Three Keys: Mind
by FireFoxDriver
Summary: When I started my journey, I had a simple goal of becoming the strongest in my home region, that was it, nothing more. What I never expected to happen was that I had signed up to fight against forces out of my league, out my comfort zone. I learn that I can't trust anyone except for my closest friends, and just maybe I can save the world. (AU)(SYOC-OPEN)
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes:** Hello there! My name is FirefoxDriver and as of this day forward I will be writing this fic instead of Jpr123. I have all of his notes, and all of the submitted characters still in the fic minus the ones that people requested to be taken out.

This fic will also be a SYOC story, so make sure if you're up for submitting a character be sure to read the OC submission form at the end of the chapter.

Edit: 04/17/2018 There is no limit to how many OCs I am willing to accept.

* * *

A young trainer was tightly wrapped up in her sleeping bag, she felt the hard cold ground underneath and the smoldering coals of the fire she made last night right beside her. She felt a slight push on the side of her arm, but quickly shoved away what ever was trying to wake her up. She felt another shove, but just like before she simply pushed it away. Then a feeling that she was very much used to, an electrifying shock quickly woke her up. She stood up straight with her bright red hair flying everywhere, her green eyes darted towards the grumpy pikachu that was right beside her. He had his arms crossed in disappointment that his trainer could stay asleep for so long.

She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms. She naturally fixed her hair by running her hands through it, as she didn't have a mirror on hand, or a small lake to look at her own reflection at the time. Reaching into her backpack the young girl pulled out a map and a compass, her pikachu sat on her lap to see what his trainer was doing.

"Alright Wendy, you can do this, you can do this, just make it to the next town, and we have another soft bed to lay down on. Pikachu, I bet you can't wait to sleep on that bed right?" The young girl said.

Pikachu nodded in response to Wendy's question. He hopped off of her lap and tapped on his pokeball in a self return. Wendy stood up and got dressed for the long trek she would have to do once again. She put on her military green tank top and quickly covered it with her red zip up hoodie. She put on her black short shorts and on top of that was a faded grey skirt. She tied up her red and white sneakers before throwing on her backpack to start walking to the next town.

While walking in the forest, Wendy took out her badge case and was very happy to see the three badges she had earned at the beginning of her journey. In the region of Yava, gym leaders would use different teams against you depending on how many badges you had previously earned in the region. Thanks to knowledge from her friends she had already challenged the tougher gyms that were by far the harder ones with more than four badges, and the gyms that would give her the most trouble with her current team, aside from the grass type gym.

The region was also well known for being a mostly forest region, right now Wendy was in the deciduous forest area. This forest was a common migrating rest area for many different species of bird and bug pokemon from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. As for Alolan and Unovain pokemon, they weren't all that common in the region of Yava, unless they were brought over by their trainers or raised by a breeder. The region itself was very much enriched with Sinnoh mythology and the religions from Sinnoh were heavily integrated in Yavanian culture as well.

After a few hours of just trekking through the forest Wendy came to the side of a lake, and decided to set up a small rest area to refill on water and maybe take a bath. On the lake there were a few other pokemon who were grazing on the grass or basking in the sun. Reaching into her bag, Wendy pulled out two pokeballs, and set them on the grass. She set up a few cloths on the bright green grass and poured out the dried pokemon pellets for her team.

The first one to come out was her male pikachu, he was the first member ever on her team. She took pride in him as he was quite the expensive buy from the breeder she got him from. Pikachu was a loved pokemon species in the region of Yava and getting one from a breeder took a lot of paper work and a lot of money. Either way Wendy did mange to get her hands on this particular pikachu and there was no turning back.

The next pokemon to come out, was her only other member of the team. It was a riolu that she also got from a breeder. Riolu wasn't really a fighter on her team, just more of an accessory. He had also cost Wendy a lot of money to buy from a breeder, as he was bred for stats, but his childish and cowardly personality wasn't really ideal for fighting.

"Alright guys it's lunch time, sorry I don't have any berries this time around. I wasn't able to find any on the way to this lake, and I couldn't find any nearby," Wendy said. She knew she was lying to her pokemon about not being able to find berries, she was actually just too lazy and too tired of traveling to go out and find wild edible berries. Another problem was that both of her pokemon were completely raised in captivity and wouldn't have the skills to find berries on their own.

Sitting by a big body of fresh water was nice, and it mean't that Wendy could fill up her small reserve of water once again. The only downside was that water was very heavy, but you needed water to survive so she filled up her canteen and many different water bottles anyway. Wendy also took this chance to have her first bath in ages, she didn't really mind the cold water by this point as it was incredibly refreshing to wash off the sweat and dirt that was caked on her skin.

Once her bath was finished she returned to where her pokemon were scarfing down lunch. She grabbed her self cooking oatmeal, and noticed that it was her last one. This was a clear sign that she needed to head to the next town to restock on supplies.

"Ah man... when you watch all the propaganda that encourages young teens to go on a pokemon journey, it only shows the positive stuff. Traveling the world, growing with a team, and battling for a chance to complete dreams of many different trainers. They never show you the sheer amount of survival skills you need to hone," Wendy thought to herself.

Wendy had started her journey a lot later than what most people have. The age you could go out and travel the world with a pokemon was the age of ten, but Wendy had started her journey at the age of fourteen, and now she was sixteen. She didn't regret that decision at all, as it allowed her to gain information from friends that had started their journey's at ten. Much like her friend Justin, whom she had grown up with. By this point she knew he must've gained eight badges as he had the title of being the youngest elite four member.

Wendy's end goal for her journey wasn't to prove that she's an adult or anything like that. She simply wanted to be the strongest trainer in all of Yava, completely uncontested in her home region. She wanted to get to a point where pokemon would approach her for training and every trainer that saw her would challenge her to a battle that she could easily win. That is what Wendy wanted.

Once Wendy finished her lunch she stood up and stretched out her arms. As she did so, a loud boom echoed throughout the forest. Her head darted towards where the sound had come from, and there was a noticeable black explosion cloud that had formed over the forest tree line. She returned both pikachu and riolu into their respective pokeballs and decided to investigate what had happened.

She ran through the forest as she did so, she could hear the explosions getting louder. She had to cover her ears as each shockwave shot through the trees. She held on tight to her sweater and backpack when the winds got stronger, but she was determined to see what was going on, as normally an explosion in the forest meant two pokemon were fighting over territory, which meant a possible easy capture of the loser. When she got to the clearing, her suspicions were right there she saw quite possibly the strongest pokemon she had ran into when she first arrived in the forest. It was the same sceptile that had chased her off so many times, she could tell it was the same one from the large scar along its back. It was fighting against another pokemon, but this time around she didn't recognize who it was. The pokemon a large female torterra, and behind her were a few eggs.

Wendy knew what was going on, sceptile wanted those eggs, and it was clear he wanted them for sustenance. Wendy watched and was hopeful that she wasn't going to be detected by either of them, she had done battle with that sceptile before and lost badly, and she didn't want to deal with a overly protective torterra that could easily counter pikachu.

Sceptile had backed Torterra up against a tree, and her eggs were right behind her. Torterra's eyes were constantly darting left and right, despite the fact that Sceptile was right in front of her. This was probably due to her being careful not to leave her eggs alone while she tried to fend off Sceptile.

Sceptile put up both of his fists and a light green energy began to dance around his body. His stomach growled loudly and an intense glare was burning in his eyes. His glare was filled with desperation and determination, as it if he hadn't had a decent meal in days. Large blades extended from his elbows, they were much longer than anything that Wendy had seen from the sceptiles that were bred for battle. He spread out both of his feet and took a deep breath in knowing that he would have to earn this meal.

Torterra dipped closer to the ground and backed up slightly staring Sceptile down. She was very careful in her movements and was waiting to see what Sceptile was going to do. To a spectator like Wendy this fight was very slow as no one was making a move, but there was a tension in the air that was rarely felt in a trainer versus trainer match.

Seconds, minutes ticked by, almost half an hour had passed by, and no one had still made a single move. Torterra and Sceptile were locked in this forever staying stare down, as a single loss in concentration for Sceptile meant death and a single loss in concentration for Torterra meant losing her eggs. When Wendy was just about to fall asleep Sceptile tightened his stance and leaped towards Torterra. Sceptile's movement was fast, unlike anything Wendy had seen before. He darted around in a zig zag pattern perhaps to throw off Torterra's focus, and when Sceptile eventually got in close, Torterra simply stepped back slightly. She thrusted her head up forcing it into Sceptile's stomach, the forest lizard was thrown into the side of tree, he fell to the ground and coughed up a clear mucous like substance. He squinted his eyes from the immense pain and clenched his fist before darting away into the forest.

Wendy watched the torterra simply pick up her eggs and place it on her back. She walked into the forest slowly disappearing from Wendy's sight, which reminded Wendy that she needed to be careful when exploring the forest. Now all she had to do was get to the next town as soon as possible, and see if she can get her fourth gym badge.

* * *

 **Author Notes:** Hey guys so let me know what you thought of the first chapter of Three Keys. I'd love to know! Updates may be inconsistent for this story as I do want to focus on another fic that I'm currently working on. I'll try to stick with an update schedule. But I'll usually end up updating when I'm done a new chapter so as a result they may come out faster and slower at times.

Now time for the OC submission form, just to let you know I'll be stricter with this OC submission than I normally am.

 **Name:** Anything can go here, just please don't use accents.

 **Age:** Anything above 13

 **Height:** Anything goes, just please keep it realistic, don't worry I know that 6'3" people exist.

 **Gender:**

 **Appearance:** Anything goes here as well. If you want anime candy coloured hair, go for it. If you want a large chest or rippling muscles you go for it. If you want an average joe kind of character by all means you go for it. If your character has scars moles or birthmarks you can also put that here if you want. Remember this is important, I don't want to see a list I want to see a good description of what your character looks like.

 **Clothing:** Go wild, jewelry or specific clothing, you can really do anything here. Express yourself and make this enjoyable to read, I don't want to see a list, I want a description of what the clothing looks like.

 **Personality:** Can never have too much personality, again just go wild with what you want.

 **Likes:** What kind of foods do they like? Love interests? Goals? Certain Passions? You decide.

 **Dislikes:** Fears, general things they don't like such as rude people. If you can't come up with anything here just start listing off things you personally don't like, it's what I do all the time.

 **Perks:** (Optional) Aura or Psychic based abilities - if you do put this in, if your character has these. They will be looked at and dissected by myself and my beta for this fic. Your character will singlehandedly go through the harshest acceptance process, if you put this in everything else about your character and their pokemon team must be absolutely perfect to put them through.

 **Origin:** How did they grow up? What is their background, did they come from a different region or did they grow up in Yava. Remember what happens in their origin should reflect their personality and clothing, as how you're brought up in the world greatly affect these things.

(-0-)Pokemon Team(-0-)

 **Author's Note:** Alright just going to put this here, but for pokemon species anything goes in this category except for the following evolutionary lines.

Pikachu

Riolu

Torchic

Aron

Any and All Legendaries, this includes mythical pokemon as well

Ultra Beasts

As for team size a maximum of 6 pokemon, and if you would like your character to catch pokemon later on, I can do that as well. Just to let you know I will dictate which pokemon they catch if you do choose this route. If you choose to have a shiny I will be very strict on if I think your character is a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu. As shiny pokemon in the fic have special properties unlike the games, it's just something I want. If you want a shiny we can work out the details when you submit.

(-0-)

Pokemon Species: Mega pokemon are allowed wether they currently have one or will gain one later on.

Nickname: (Optional) Please try to stay away from accents if you do want a nickname

Personality: This is not to be confused with nature, it would be their overall personality. How do they act around their trainer? How do they act in battle, how do they act away from their trainer, and how do they interact with the rest of their team?

Legalized Move set for Tournaments:

This is where you would put their standard four attacks. These attacks will be considered second nature to the pokemon, and will be the moves they end up using the most.

Other Attacks (Optional)

These are their attacks outside of their standard four. Remember the dynamic of these attacks are that your pokemon has to try to use them as they don't get nearly as much practice using them, and are prone to mess them up mid battle. Please keep the limit to 8.

Z-Moves: They are not allowed, as I feel they are special to the Alola region and should stay there.

(-0-) **Important Info** (-0-)

This is regarding OC submissions as a whole, I'm not only looking for protagonists or good guys, feel free to submit people like villains, heroes, friendly rivals or antagonistic rivals.

I will also put this in my Bio with an example so that you can just copy and paste it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Notes:** Hello there, FirefoxDriver here again. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, things will be very similar to Jpr123's story in the beginning, but things will definitely begin to differ as we go along.

Anyway please enjoy the chapter.

* * *

It had been four days since Wendy watched the battle between Sceptile and Torterra. The sun was blaring into her eyes. She stood in the middle of a large grass field, there were a few trees dotted throughout the field and the lack of a breeze made the trek unbearably hot. Even with the few trees here and there, none of them were large enough to form a sufficient amount of shade to rest calmly. Looking at the overall colour of the grass it was clear that it hadn't rained in a good while, but due to the combination of high humidity and dark clouds along the horizon it was soon to rain.

Wendy's stomach growled aggressively. Food was the forefront on her mind as just two days ago she had run out of food for herself and her team. Riolu and Pikachu were staying in their pokeballs as a way of dealing with the lack of food. Wendy knew she had to make it to the next town soon or else she might actually go insane from hunger.

After walking for a few more hours Wendy could hear the sound of running water, and the scenery had changed from an open grass field to a thickly dense forest. The forest floor was dense with vegetation. Wendy had to watch her step as not to sprain her ankle on a random tree root. It was hard to see the sky from where she stood, and she wasn't exactly sure what time it was either. When she got to the sound of running water there was a large amount of relief that washed over her shoulders. She had found a river, and it just so happened that this river would lead her to the next town, or at least a small village. Most towns, cities and villages were usually down stream of a river, mainly for the fresh water, and a source of power.

Wendy leaned up against a tree and took off her backpack. She had a mind breaking headache from her long journey, and as each minute passed by she felt the need to eat something. She was exhausted and was barely able to walk for the rest of the day. She crawled up to the river and took a few generous sips filling her stomach only with water. It was a temporary solution to her hunger, but was an attempt to fool her stomach that it was full. Taking the cold water in her hands she splashed some water on her head, face and arms, feeling the hot tension being released from her aching limbs.

A bright light came out of Wendy's backpack and in front of her, her small riolu formed. She looked at him with a disappointed face, but she wasn't disappointed at him, she was disappointed at herself. Her heart almost just about broke when Riolu reached into her backpack and grabbed a metal bowl asking for food. Wendy let out a soft sigh, stared her pokemon in the eye.

"Riolu, I'm sorry... I don't have any food right now, but when we get to the city we will restock on supplies, and we'll go to a buffet and gorge ourselves on food ok," Wendy said.

Riolu sadly nodded and went back inside his pokeball leaving his trainer to herself. Wendy didn't have the energy to get out her basic tent or anything. She kinda just lay down on the ground and fell asleep. In her dreams she could only see mountains of food on fine dinning plates. She only thought about the things she would do when she got back to the city. She could only think of digging into a mighty medium rare steak, completely devouring it, using her hands no matter what it cost to get something into her stomach.

Wendy found herself in a large dinning room with deep red walls. The walls had large paintings with gold trim. In front of her was a large table with a snow white cloth. On top of the table was an array of her favourite foods, from pizza to steak and many different burgers. Her plate was a fine white plate with a rim of gold, and the utensils fit perfectly in her hands. She was about to dig when she felt a sharp pain shoot right up her leg.

Wendy's eyes opened wide. "Arrrggghhh!" Her voice echoed throughout the forest. Wendy looked all around her. There was a wild thunderstorm all around her. The sky was almost pitch black with how dark the clouds were, and her clothes were soaked from the constant pour of rain. She looked down at her leg and on top of her ankle was a fallen tree. The pain was surging through her leg, it burned, it ached, she felt the weight of the tree crushing the bones in her ankle. She pushed against the muddy ground, but it was no use, she wasn't able to break free. The crunching sound of her cartilage and bones echoed through her mind, and when things couldn't get worse Wendy spotted something absolutely frightening.

Rushing towards her was a flash flood. The flood was carrying rocks, trees, and all kinds of debris. Wendy quickly grabbed onto her backpack and zipped it up. She made sure it was strapped on well. She bit the bottom of her lip, and in an instant the flash flood slammed into her like a freight train. From the impact she took a in a deep gulp of water, and she was forcibly ripped out from under the tree. Her broken ankle flopped and turned at the will of the water, and each time her foot moved an even stronger pain was shot up her leg.

Wendy tried to swim up the surface of the water, but it was no use trying to push against something like a flash flood. Every time Wendy reached the surface of the water, the flood quickly swallowed her back up into its clutches. She was dragged along the bottom of the river swallowing rocks, dirt and mud. Her head was banged against a few rocks, and eventually she was slammed and pushed up against a large rock in the river. Wendy held on for dear life she used the force of the water to push her self up towards the surface trying so hard not to slip. Her lungs, arms, torso, and good leg were all burning. She was taking in breaths of nothing but water, she could feel her own eyes welling up underneath the surface. She felt her hand break the surface, and with the little might she had left, she heaved herself up with her aching arms. She could only think about reaching the surface, with all of her might she gripped onto the rock for dear life. She bit the bottom of her lip, and grunted from the force, she clenched her fingers and finally pulled herself out of the water. She saw large amounts of debris flowing around her. The water was murky beyond compare, and there was a white foam that flowed on top of the water from how fast it was flowing.

Wendy coughed and coughed over again. Large sticks were hitting her in the back forcing her against the rock, and she could feel her body continuing to bruise. Wendy closed her eyes in a fear she was trusting in the rock to keep her safe until this flood was over. She felt a sharp pain in her arm, she was scared to open her eyes. The pain in her arm grew to a point where she could no long ignore it. She saw a large metal rod stuck in her arm presumably from a bridge that was washed away.

The metal rod was stuck in her shoulder. She reached over with her mouth and clenched the rod between her teeth. She bit down on the rod and attempted to remove it, but as she did the pain only grew more. Tears were falling down from her eyes, and she wasn't sure if she was going to make it. The metal rod twisted and turned in her shoulder as the water bashed against her back. The pain was growing stronger and stronger, she looked up to the sky and closed her eyes.

"SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE HELP! PLEASE HELP! PLEASE HELP!" Wendy screamed.

Wendy felt her burning arm's fingers begin to slip, and her broken ankle just couldn't take the abuse anymore. With one final impact from the flash flood Wendy was thrown back into the river. Much like before Wendy tried to swim up to the surface for another breath of air, but with a bad leg and arm she wasn't able to do much. She tried to break the surface, but the flash flood quickly swallowed her back in. Her head slammed against the bottom of the river and everything went black.

 _Crack... Snap... Pop... Thoughts of warmth..._

Everything was black for what seemed like forever until Wendy could hear the soft crackle of a fire, but more importantly she could feel the warmth of a fire. Her head ached with a pain that wasn't all that familiar to her. She tried to move both of her arms, but she could feel both of them being completely restricted. She heard the soft snoring of a few of pokemon. She slowly opened up her eyes, and noticed she was underneath a rock with a large overhang. Looking over through her blurry vision she saw a boy who was probably the same age she was.

This boy had dark brown messily kept hair. He was thin but had a very feminine facial structure. His skin was quite dark, and it was probably from being out in the sun for long periods of time. Looking closer at his arms they actually had a good amount of muscle on them, but they were hard to see due to his clothes. He wore a long sleeved white farmer's shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his white shirt was covered by a blue twine top. He wore a pair of big baggy pants that were also covered up by knee high leather boots. The boy looked directly at her and she noticed his dark green eyes which complimented his faded freckles.

"Oh gosh golly, you're awake... Uh... name's Donny, what's yours if you's don't mind me askin."

"Uhgg... my head hurts," Wendy groaned.

"Well it would make sense, you's was pretty banged up when I found ya by the river rocks. Lookin at yer ankle I fixed it up with a few twigs and cloth. As for yer arm I recommend you keep it propped up against your stomach. I tried to stop the bleeding the best I could, but I eventually just tightly wrapped some cloth around the wound after I removed that metal barb," Donny said.

Wendy was about to close her eyes in relief, when a thought just came into her mind. Sure she was being taken care of this stranger, but one question blurted out "Hey, where's my pokemon!?"

"Are you referring to dem pikachu and riolu? They're in your backpack, safe and sound in their pokeballs," Donny smiled.

Wendy let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

Once Wendy heard Donny's word she slipped into a deep sleep. She thought about the rough experience she just went through, she thought about what if she had actually died. She thought if anyone would worry that she was dead.

Wendy didn't have parents anymore, and her only relative left was her grandmother who could barely remember anything. She had a few friends, but most of them had by this point either given up on their journey or completed it. Would they even be worried if she had died, or would they haven even found out, after all Wendy was alone when the flood happened.

Wendy felt something similar to warm water being poured on her arm. Where the metal barb had entered her arm it stung slightly, but once the stinging stopped the feeling was actually quite pleasant. She felt that same warm water flow over her ankle, and that stung with a great amount of pain. It was a pulsing pain that surged up her leg over and over again. She opened her eyes slightly and there she saw Donny holding her ankle as he poured glowing water over it. The water glowed with a bright white light, and looking over at Donny's face he looked extremely tired. Wendy intently watched the water as the moment the water touched Donny's hand it would form and morph into the shape of his hand.

Wendy closed her eyes once again and just waited. Time flew by as it had only seemed like a few minutes to her, but in actuality she had fallen asleep for several hours. Rolling around on the surface she was on, she had noticed that it was a bed. She felt the soft sheets, the relaxing scent of detergent, and the wind of a cool breeze from ceiling fan. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a room that was very familiar to her. The room's colour was a soft white with a few region pictures on the wall. Right beside her bed was a small table with a reasonably sized lamp. It was a standard pokemon center rental room. Sitting up in her bed she looked at the base of the tv and saw that both her pokeballs were there, and beside the pokeballs was a note.

Wendy pulled the sheets off of her body and was about to get off the bed when she remembered her damaged ankle. She tried to ease into walking, but soon noticed that her ankle was completely fine. She soon checked her arm and saw that the her wound was completely healed. She did find it odd how her body had healed so quickly, but she took it as a miracle and decided to not worry about it too much. She walked over to the note and unfolded it, the note was from Donny, and his writing was just barely legible.

'After you fell asleep I pulled you along into the nearest town. Sorry if I made you backtrack on your journey, but I got you to the nearest pokemon center for treatment. Anyway if you're reading this then it means I'm already on my merry way to either the forest or the nearest tree village. I left your some cash in your backpack and bought a bunch of supplies based on the receipts you keep in that backpack, please be safe on your journey.'

Good luck from Donny

"Huh what a guy," Wendy thought to herself.

Wendy walked into the tiny washroom, and saw herself in the mirror for the first time in a good while. Her skin was much darker than she had remembered, and her hair was wildly messy. She took a nice long shower. She made sure to scrub off every single piece of dirt off of her body and when she had finished in the shower she cut her nails and did a basic hygiene routine that she had missed.

She walked into the dinning area that the pokemon center had. They had already started the free breakfast buffet. Wendy let out both pikachu and riolu to grab what they liked. Wendy piled her plate high with pancakes, fruit and a bit of bacon. She sat down at a nice blue table and leaned back in the seat, she let out a loud sigh of relief brining a lot of attention to her, but she didn't care one bit.

"Uh... hello, uhm... all the seats are full. Can I by any chance sit beside you?" A girl in her early teens asked.

Wendy looked at the girl and saw that she had long blonde hair that was tightly tied up, and held back by a capped hat. She had bright blue eyes and quite a lean build. She wore a yellow zip up hoodie, her jeans fit tightly around her legs, but were ripped by the knees.

"Yeah sure, the seat isn't taken. Oh by the way the name is Wendy, what's yours?" Wendy responded.

"Oh how silly of me... I-I-I'm Hibiki Kohaku," she said.

The two girls talked for a bit, the two of them brought up some small talk, and their individual goals eventually sprung up in the conversation. The two of them both had the common goal of becoming strong trainers, and as the two of them talked a pokeball on Hibiki's belt opened up. The bright white light emerged from the ball formed into a very small poochyena.

"Awww isn't he so cute!" Wendy said.

"His name is Rei, he's my partner, and my only pokemon," Hibiki proudly said.

Wendy pointed to her Riolu and Pikachu that were at the buffet bar gorging themselves on food. "Those two are my party, we've earned three badges together, and while I'm in Berry Grove I hope on getting my fourth,".

"Oh really I just earned my second badge today. The gym leader in this town specializes in steel type pokemon, it took me multiple times to beat him. If I'm being honest he's kinda cute," Hibiki laughed.

"Hey if you're up for a battle I'd love to have one, you know I'd love some practice before I challenge the gym. See who took him down you know, kind of get an idea of what he's looking for," Wendy said.

"Ok sure, I'll buy you some ice cream if you win, and I win you're buying me ice cream," Hibiki said.

"It's a deal then," Wendy excitedly said.

The two of them walked outside of the pokemon center. The sky was still quite cloudy from the intense rain last night, and the humidity was still quite high. Wendy looked at all the stone buildings and the currently murky water channels that flowed throughout the town. There were multiple buildings that generated power for the town in the way of water wheels. While Wendy was distracted by the town Hibiki brought her over to a battlefield located beside the pokemon center.

Wendy stood on one end while Hibiki stood on the other. They had discussed before hand that this fight would be a one on one battle. Hibiki grabbed the pokeball on her belt and threw it into the field. The pokeball opened up and a bright white light formed into her poochyena. Wendy thought about the two pokemon she had, and this was an easy choice.

"Riolu! Come on out!" Wendy yelled.

Wendy clenched the pokeball in her hand and tossed it onto the field, Riolu formed from the bright white light and stood in front of Wendy. Her riolu looked at his opponent and instantly looked back at Wendy with a worried look. Riolu ran behind Wendy's leg and cowered in fear to the tiny mutt of a pokemon.

"Riolu, c'mon. This is just some friendly competition, I can't have you running away from every single fight!" Wendy yelled. She grabbed Riolu by the arm and sat him down on the battlefield. Riolu looked back at Wendy and made multiple signs that he didn't want to have a battle, but Wendy didn't listen.

"Alright we're good to go!" Wendy yelled.

Hibiki felt a little bit of fear creep up her spine. Her little Rei was going up against a fighting type, she just had to hope that he would be fine against a pokemon with a clear type advantage.

"Ok we'll take the first move! Rei, use thunder fang!" Hibiki yelled.

Rei let out a soft roar and began to dash around the field in a zig zag pattern. Riolu tracked where Rei was going, but he was simply following him, and wasn't really predicting where he would go. Bright yellow electricity began to from around Rei's mouth, and with a quick dash Rei went right after Riolu. Rei bit down on Riolu's arm sending the young aura pokemon staggering back. A thick black dust cloud formed, and Rei jumped out of the dusty cloud only to leap back in.

"Great job Rei! Keep it up and use thunder fang again!" Hibiki yelled.

Rei let out a soft bark and ran around in the cloud freely. He had his target, and landed thunder fang after thunder fang. Rei grew in delight with each successful hit, and he grew more confident as he felt Riolu slowly being chipped away at. Mini explosions could be heard within the dust cloud, and Wendy knew that Riolu was taking hit after hit. She could hear the scared whimpers of Riolu, and decided that enough was enough.

"Riolu when you see Rei come in close, make sure you dodge!" Wendy commanded.

Riolu could only see a thick cloud of smoke around him. His legs and arms ached from the constant gnawing. He could hear the pitter patter of his opponent's steps, but since Rei had black fur it made it impossible to see him in the smoke. A sharp pain shot up Riolu's leg and as he looked down there was Rei once again.

"Come on Riolu! Get out of the smoke, and prepare for a counter attack!" Wendy yelled.

Riolu tried his best to run out of the smoke, but he was too afraid. The pitter patter just became louder and louder. Each time he came near the edge of smoke Rei would simply dash in front of him scaring him back into the smoke. Wendy could see this happening as Rei would fearlessly dash in and back out of the smoke to attack her Riolu. It was almost as if Rei was herding mareep in a field.

"Riolu! Just try your best and use cut when Rei gets near you!" Wendy yelled.

Riolu completely panicked, he put both of his hands together and formed a bright white blade. He swung the blade around wildly in the smoke hoping he would hit something. Rei simply ducked and weaved around Riolu's wild swings and dashed in with more thunder fangs. Hibiki grew in delight as she knew that Rei had the complete advantage.

"Rei, you're doing great! Let's wrap this up with Iron tail, and follow it up with thunder fang!" Hibiki yelled.

Rei dashed in for the final time, his tail began to glow with a lustrous shine. He slammed his tail into Riolu sending him flying. Rei jumped into the air and clenched Riolu with his mouth. A massive explosion formed when Rei brought out thunder fang while Riolu was in his mouth. Rei threw Riolu into the ground and began to dive down, his tail was covered by another lustrous shine, and Wendy knew she had to act fast. She bit the bottom of her lip and clenched her fists. She made full eye contact with Riolu and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Riolu! Listen to me! Let's prove everyone wrong! I know you're scared, I know you hate battling! But let's not forget the day I picked you up! Never forget that day! I will prove to your breeder, to your family, I will prove that you can be strong, you are strong! You can do this just trust in me, and never forget that you are strong in my eyes! Now use counter!" Wendy yelled.

Riolu straightened his stance, he was scared, he was terrified, but he had his trainer at his back. There was a black bullet headed his way. His body shook with fear as Rei flew towards him faster and faster. He began to focus, a soft blue energy formed around his body, he felt the full force of Rei's iron tail. The pain raged through his body, but he wasn't going to give up. As the pain raged through his body his aura skyrocketed in strength. He grabbed Rei by the tail, and formed a fist with his other hand. He reeled back his arm and as he was about to land a solid hit on Rei, but Rei bit down on his neck, and fired off another thunder fang.

Riolu let go of Rei's tail and fell to the ground. Both trainers watched the epic moment and when Riolu fell to the ground Hibiki ran up and gave her partner a warm hug in celebration. Wendy slowly walked over to Riolu and returned him thanking him for the hard work.

"Hey Wendy, that was fun match! I thought Riolu had us there at the very end with that counter, but thankfully Rei here was quick on his feet with that thunder fang. If you don't mind me asking, what was that whole deal of proving everyone wrong?" Hibiki said.

"Oh well you see, Riolu isn't a wild pokemon he was bred. He was bred for stats, but unfortunately he was the runt of the litter, his personality wasn't really suited for battle. His breeder was going to put him in a shelter, so I stood up and took him on the spot. I'm going to prove to his family and his breeder that he can be strong," Wendy said.

"I guess that makes sense, so you're buying me ice cream?" Hibiki asked.

"A deal is a deal, let's walk around the town for a bit," Wendy said.

"I'd like that," Hibiki said.

* * *

 **Author Notes:** Anyway there you guys go the second chapter of this fic. I hope you're still enjoying it. As always with the SYOC fics that I do, whenever I introduce new OC's that aren't mine I give credit where credit is due.

Hibiki Kohaku - Created by " **KenjiSpiritSlasher** "

Alright Hibiki was super awesome to write, I like her a lot. You'll receive a PM from me soon, I need to tell you where and how I'm going to use Hibiki for the fic.

Donny Winder - Created by " **DarkWingedLancelot** "

Nice job on this character, he fit well with the cast.

See you all in the next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author Notes:** So just to let you know this is where I will start to deviate from the original story. If you want to know where your OC stands in the story feel free to send me a PM.

* * *

Wendy and Hibiki were in a local park. The two of them were discussing about how Hibiki had recently won her second badge in the town they were in. When talking about the gym leader something very intriguing came up.

"Wait, so the gym leader never actually battled you?" Wendy questioned.

Hibiki crossed her arms and looked Wendy dead in the eye. "No, one of his associates battled me instead. He only battles trainers with three badges or more, if you don't have a third badge you're not worth his time. It kinda bugs me... actually it pisses me off! I mean his associate was a complete pushover! I was really hoping to learn something from this battle."

"Really? I've never heard of a gym leader who does that. It honestly seems odd to me that he'd only battle trainers with more than three badges. Isn't it a gym leader's job to help trainers progress through their journey? Anyway... I'm rambling on for way too long, but do you happen to know what type the gym specializes in?" Wendy asked.

Hibiki nervously rubbed the back of her head. "It's a steel type gym. The associate only used a beldum. Since you already have three badges I don't know who the gym leader is or what he might use. Kind of useless I know, but at least you have a riolu, you might be able to squeeze out a win."

"Well why don't we go find out. I'd much rather go and try my luck than not try at all. If I lose so what, I can always try again with a different strategy. I'll use Riolu as a last resort, as you saw before, he's not exactly the strongest fighter," Wendy said.

"I like your thinking," Hibiki said.

* * *

Wendy and Hibiki walked up to the Barry Grove Gym. The building itself was a few stories tall, by the bell shape it was clearly just a indoor battlefield. The front gate of the gym was a large steel door, and along the walls were huge steel arches. The arches were bolted down, but their age definitely showed with the rust flaking off of them. There were statues of the Yava league's official logo, and standing at the door were a few guards who were completely dressed from head to toe in plated steel armor.

The two of them walked up to the guards. Both guards were completely still, they didn't move a single muscle until Wendy decided to push against the thick steel gate. The gate was completely stuck, and it was basically an immovable object.

"Miss, please state your business," The guard said.

"I'm here to challenge the gym leader," Wendy said.

"Our gym leader is a very busy man, but he is inside. Would you like to set up a match with him? Although depending on the number of badges you have he might not want to battle you," The guard said.

"Well it's best to give it a shot right!" Wendy said.

The guard nodded and began to open the door by remote. There was an ear screeching roar from the doors as dust began to fall from it. The doors slowly opened and beyond the doors was a massive battlefield. The battlefield was much larger than any other gym Wendy had been to. There were massive pillars of steel protruding from the ground, a few of them were knocked down or damaged beyond belief. They were in a specific pattern, but to Wendy the pillars were placed at random. Standing at the other end of the battlefield was someone she recognized.

"Well gosh darn it, if it ain't Wendy. The girl who I saved from a flash flood. Welcome to my gym. I am the Berry Grove gym leader, now what can I do for ya," Donny happily said.

When Wendy's eyes landed on Donny, she was incredibly surprised. She wanted to thank him for everything he had done for her, but right now she had trouble understanding him for the other side of the battlefield. "WHAT! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! WHY ARE YOU TALKING NORMALLY FROM THE OTHER END OF THE BATTLEFIELD?!".

Donny smiled at Wendy's response, he adjusted his stance and stood proudly. He cupped his hand over his mouth and at the top of his lungs he yelled out. "WELL LONG TIME NO SEE! I'M THE BERRY GROVE GYM LEADER! WHAT CAN I DO FOR YA?".

"I'D LOVE TO HAVE A BATTLE!" Wendy yelled.

Donny motioned for a referee to take stage. The referee walked over to Donny, what Wendy saw was an exchange of words, and deep look of concern from the referee. Donny reassured the referee, and Wendy was delighted to see him take the stage.

"Young lady, according to Donny, this will be your fourth gym badge if you win. As per rules of the league, when a trainer is trying to earn their fourth badge, the gym leader is allowed to go all out. Donny is considered the second strongest gym leader in all of Yava. Are you sure you're prepared?" The referee asked.

"Nope, not in the slightest. I'm just here to test my strength, and if I lose, I can always challenge the gym again. I'll do my best, and try to defeat this gym!" Wendy excitedly said.

"Alright, the rules of this fight are, It'll be Donny's full team versus your full team. Once either team is completely unable to battle the other wins. The challenger Wendy is allowed to substitute pokemon, while Donny is unable. Are we clear on the rules?" The Referee asked.

"Yup!" Wendy yelled.

"Sure are!" Donny yelled.

Wendy stared into Donny's eyes from across the battlefield. Donny's expression was completely lax, and it looked like he was just looking for a good time. The ground began to shake and Wendy noticed that the massive steel pillars began to vibrate along with ground. There was a soft harmonizing sound echoing through out the entire gym. Wendy knew well that each gym had its own specific stage gimmick, but this one she couldn't figure out why the pillars were vibrating.

"C'mon my little friend. I choose you!" Donny yelled.

He clenched an ultraball in his hand, and threw it up into the air. A bright white light bursted out of the ultraball. The light danced around the pillars at blinding speeds, until it all settled in front of Donny. The light formed into a tiny ball, on the side of that ball formed what appeared to be two magnets, and at the base of the ball two screws. Once the pokemon had finally formed from the light, Wendy recognized it as one of the rarest pokemon in Yava. It was magnemite.

Wendy smiled and automatically the pokeball on her waist opened up all on its own. The bright white light formed right in front of her. She knew exactly who it was and she couldn't be happier. Her pikachu formed from the bright light, he stood up on his two hind legs, instead of a wild pikachu that would usually stand on all fours.

Pikachu made a fist in an intimidating manner. "Pika!" As he let out his battle cry did a wave of electricity shot out from his body and the pillars responded by vibrating even more. As pikachu began to discharge more electricity Donny took a step back to admire pikachu's incredible energy.

"Wendy, you're more than welcome to make the first move!" Donny yelled.

Wendy nodded in response, in a soft tone she told pikachu. "Hey buddy, just like every gym let's use your overwhelming power and get this over with!".

"Pika!" Pikachu grunted. Pikachu straightened his stance, and shot a mighty glare at his opponent. Magnemite didn't look phased one bit. It kinda just floated there not really focusing on Pikachu.

"Pikachu let's start this off with Thunder Punch!" Wendy yelled.

Pikachu nodded, his fists became engulfed in electricity. He ran at his opponent at full speed, this was supposed to be an easy target. He leaped all around Magnemite to see if he'd move, but he didn't. Once Pikachu decided that Magnemite was a sitting duck he rushed into to land his first punch.

As Pikachu got closer and closer, he expected to hit his opponent, but last minute Magnemite simply moved over and dodged Pikachu's punch. As Pikachu touched the ground, he jumped back up at Magnemite and threw his next punch only to miss once again. Pikachu landed on a pillar and jumped right back at Magnemite only to miss his punch again.

"Pikachu, don't give up! Keep at it, he can't dodge you forever!" Wendy yelled.

Each time Pikachu missed he was getting faster, he was adjusting his speed mid match, and he was getting close to grazing his opponent. Donny was completely calm, he watched his magnemite expertly dodge each attack with precision and accuracy. He did notice that pikachu was getting faster with each punch, but it didn't concern him.

"Magnemite, you know what to do! Use Metal Sound!" Donny yelled.

Magnemite skillfully dodged each and every one of Pikachu's attacks. As he dodged each one, he fired off a blast of sound at one of the metal pillars. As he fired off each metal sound into the pillar, more and more pillars began to vibrate.

Wendy noticed that the ground was shaking violently, and there was a soft humming noise echoing throughout the entire stadium. The humming got louder and louder with each successful blast of sound that hit the pillar the humming only increased in volume. The ground shook even more violently, and cracks began to form at the base of each pillar.

As Pikachu was about to graze Magnemite, a massive blast of sound shot out from one of the pillars. The blast of sound picked up the energy of the other pillars, and what was normally a status move was now a full blown attack. The blast of sound created a wave of air pressure that sent Pikachu flying. The sound was similar to that of a loud trumpet, and as the blast of air forced Pikachu on the ground. His ears were burning from the amount of air pressure, he looked back to see his trainer covering her ears as this attack was also affecting her.

Magnemite flew around the stage with ease firing off more metal sounds at each individual pillar building up the strength of the attack more and more. Pikachu held on for dear life, it felt as if his head was going to pop from the sound. He clenched his teeth and covered his ears from the excruciating pain.

Wendy bit the side of her cheek to distract from how loud the metal sound was. She could barely think, she could barely open her eyes, she looked at pikachu who was struggling against this force.

"C'mon buddy, we have to get past this wall! You got this Pikachu, stand your ground! We can win this!" Wendy yelled.

Pikachu was forced onto all fours and he tried to push himself back up. More and more blasts of sound tried to force him down. His eyes were open wide he could only think about getting close to his opponent. There was a cracking sound in his skull and ears, but he pushed through it. He pushed through the pain. He stood up, his fists were engulfed with electricity. He began to walk forward. Rocks and boulders flew past him, and for each rock that was sent his way, he blocked it with a well timed punch. His legs, his arms, his entire body ached from the blasts of sound, and he could feel his own body breaking from the immense pressure.

"Think Wendy, think! Magnemite is zipping around the battlefield, and there's no way pikachu can build up enough speed with agility in that time frame. Our issue is time, and pikachu is running out of it. With each blast of air it takes a big chunk of his stamina! It's all or nothing, the pillars are made of steel we might be able to catch him if we use them."

Pikachu looked back at his trainer, and saw a nervous smile on her face. He grew a nervous smile as well and understood that his trainer had a crazy plan.

"Pikachu! Discharge all of your electricity into every pillar around you! This is our last chance so make it count!" Wendy yelled.

Pikachu nodded and withstood on coming attacks. He felt a deep energy bubbling up inside of him. Electricity began to dance around his body, and his cheeks became unbearably hot. Thick waves of steam were being expelled from his body. The air surrounding him had become wavy and hot. The energy bubbling inside of him had reached a point to where it couldn't climb any further, and once he reached that point his body erupted into a pillar of electricity.

The electricity danced around the entire battlefield, it latched itself to every steel pillar that stood up. Magnemite skill ducked and weaved, as each bolt of electricity flew by its body, there was a loud humming screech. Pikachu's eyes darted across the pillars he focused more and more energy into the pillar where he thought the electricity would redirect towards his opponent. His body was burning up like a short circuiting battery. His stamina was running thin, and there was a pool of sweat forming around his feet. With one final push of strength he forced everything out creating a massive puff of black smoke blinding Wendy and Donny.

When the smoke had cleared up Pikachu was found completely unconscious. Wendy walked up to her fallen partner and returned him to his pokeball. She walked back to her side of the field and tightened her grip around her only remaining pokeball. She knew full well that Riolu didn't like battling but he was the only pokemon she had left, so it was worth a shot.

"Riolu, come on out!" Wendy yelled.

A bright white light shot out of the pokeball, it quickly formed on the field into the shy Riolu that Wendy knew quite well. Riolu looked all around the battlefield, his heart sunk, the scene was so familiar, so frightening. The bright lights, the large battlefield, and the referee, this was a gym battle. The shy little aura pokemon looked back at his trainer. Wendy knew Riolu's look well it was clear he didn't want to battle.

Wendy crossed her arms and in an annoyed tone said. "Come on... really... not this again. Riolu, how are you gonna prove you're strong if you try to give up every fight from the start."

Riolu let out a soft whimpered and began to back off of the stage, but Wendy held the tiny pokemon's back and forced him onto the battlefield. Across from the other side Donny let out a frown at the scene unfolding before him. He motioned towards the referee to pause the fight, he walked up to Wendy and said.

"Wendy, this fight is over. That Riolu of yours ain't gonna battle."

Wendy let out an annoyed grunt. "No don't worry about it, he will fight. Come on Riolu! Just one more quick battle alright!"

"ENOUGH!" Donny yelled.

Wendy turned her head towards the Berry Grove gym leader in shock. She didn't even know the guy was capable of yelling in an angry tone. She took her hands off of Riolu and stood in front of him.

Donny crossed his arms. "Wendy, I didn't want to say it, but you're a bad trainer. Your strategy of having your pikachu release all of his energy was not only useless but reckless and dangerous. Then I see you forcing a pokemon who clearly doesn't want to battle to fight in a gym match. Pokemon are not tools for success they're family and should be treated as such, you should be working towards a common goal with your pokemon, not forcing them into your ideals. I honestly don't see how you earned your first three badges. Sure I get that you easily won against Severa the flying type gym, Holland the water type gym, but how did you with against Grant the ground type gym?"

Wendy let out a soft blush. "Well Grant... let's just say it took a lot of perseverance"

Donny raised an eye brow. "I guess I can see that, you say it took a lot of perseverance? Before the fourth badge, us gym leaders are supposed to pull out once you take out our second pokemon, did he pull out on you?"

Wendy covered her mouth "Oh he pulled out alright..."

"Why are you posing like that? I am so confused anyway... look, Wendy I suggest you either go out and train, or you should perhaps visit someone called 'Miss Blossom' she's a phenomenal teacher who could help you out," Donny said.

* * *

Once Wendy had finished everything both her and Hibiki had left the gym. The two of them said their goodbyes to each other. Hibiki was going to head to the next town for her third badge, but she did plan on staying in town for a bit longer, while Wendy knew she had to come up with a tactic to beat Donny's strategy.

The small town of Berry Grove was quiet during the night. The left over winds from the storm left the chimes happily blowing a tune. Neither the stars or moon could be seen past the clouds, and the humidity was high as it usually was in Yava.

Wendy was on her way back to the pokemon center, and on the way there she just let her head float with thoughts. "So if I'm going to beat Donny, I'm going to have to find a way to hit that magnemite in the first place. I'm also going to have to find a way to deal with those pillars. Of course I don't know what his ace pokemon is, but I can assume that it might be either a scizor or something like an Aggron. To hit Magnemite, I'm probably going to have to build up pikachu's speed tremendously, and for the pillars he'll just have to dodge. Maybe... OOF!".

Whilst in her own thoughts Wendy had bumped into something. She hit her head quite hard looking up it was just a lamp post, but either way it still hurt. She looked towards the hill off in the distance, and saw a old run down house. Once her eyes stared at the house for quite a bit, she knew that was her next destination, but maybe it was also because of the sign that read 'Blossom's Garden'

A sharp craggily voice was right beside Wendy's ear, she could feel the warm breath of someone breathing on her neck, and sensation of fear run up her spine. "You're eyeing that house, what's your business with her?"

Wendy quickly turned around to see a man who was much taller than she was. There were no outstanding features of him, other than the clothing he wore. He had a scratched cast iron mask with bright red glowing eyes. The mask had a defined jaw line that had teeth engraved into it. Poking around the top of his mask was some messy brown hair. He was completely covered head to toe in a brown leather cloak. He wore a pair of tattered military boots, and his arms were wrapped up in very dirty sports tape.

He looked at Wendy directly in the eye sending a sharp wave of fear up her spine. "Name is Jackal, do you have business with my old mentor? If so I'd suggest that you stay far away from that demon. Nothing good ever comes from being around her. Anyway we'll meet again kid, I find you interesting in more ways than one."

* * *

 **Author Notes:** So what did you guys think, It's a bit more different from the original right? Anyway let me know your thoughts, favouriting or reviewing would be awesome! Anyway just remember that OC submissions are still open, and you can submit more than one character if you wish! Remember your character doesn't have to be OP to be accepted I like weaker characters too!


	4. Chapter 4

Wendy had just finished up healing her team at the pokemon center, and she couldn't wait to head to the house that Donny told her to go to. After seeing just how strong Donny and his magnemite were in battle filled her with a determination like no other. She happily skipped her way through the old fashioned town of Berry Grove. She ignored the small wooden shops, and the pebbles along the river. She ignored the children running by and the water pokemon splashing about in the puddles.

When she had made her way to the hill, there was a soft breeze blowing through her hair. The gentle scent of fruit from the town was filling up the air. Dragging her feet through the grass, she noticed that it was extra soft, and it was clearly well taken care of. Reaching the top of the hill was a quaint wooden hut. The windows were slightly tinted, and the roof's tiles hadn't been changed for ages. There was a small gravel path leading up to the front door, and beside the path was a small rock that read 'welcome'. Looking around the house and in the back was a big battlefield, and near the battlefield was a small flower garden.

Wendy walked up to the front door and gave it a good knock. She waited a bit and the door had slowly opened. Standing in the door frame was an elderly woman. She was about half the height of Wendy, with wrinkles covering the majority of her skin. Her grey hair was tightly woven into a bun, and to hold it in place was two wooden sticks. She wore a purple robe, and held a twisted cane in her hand.

"Are you Miss Blossom by any chance?" Wendy asked.

The old lady nodded and let out a loud yawn before saying. "Let me guess, Donny right?"

"How'd you know?" Wendy asked.

Miss Blossom licked her dry chapped lips and let out tiny cough. "That boy, is always sending people who lose to his gym here. So I'm assuming you wish to be trained?"

Wendy scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, more or less you get the gist of it,".

"Just to let you know, many people don't survive my intense training. In fact the only person who's made it more than a day is Donny. Are you sure you're up for it?" Miss Blossom responded.

Wendy clenched her fist and looked Miss Blossom in the eye. She clenched her fist and her eyes were filled with determination. "Whatever it takes to get stronger!".

"Hmmmm very good. Now follow me," Miss Blossom said. She reached into her home and grabbed a well worn wooden cane. She walked out of her home taking in the fresh air, taking the lead in walking Wendy around town.

Walking back into the town Wendy took notice at the many different water channels. The channels were just filled and clogged up with garbage and debris from the flash flood upstream. Many of the drains were blocked and many townsfolk were helping to clear them out. Miss Blossom seemed to be following the the troughs finally leading Wendy to a large man made lake. The lake had horribly murky water, large pieces of wood, metal and a thick layer of scum floating on top.

Miss Blossom let out a craggily cough. "For today's training and probably your training for the following week. You're going to be cleaning out the lake, just you, no help from your pokemon, but I can't help it if some of the townsfolk or fellow pokemon in the area decide to help you."

Wendy looked at the task before her, and instantly lost that determination she had earlier in the day. "Wait are you serious? My pokemon aren't supposed to help, but some of the things in here I won't be able to lift. "

Miss Blossom let out a soft chuckle. "A pokemon is only as strong as its trainer."

Wendy thought about it, and knowing how strong Donny was she wanted to see if she could do it. Lucky she had brought some spare clothes she didn't really care about and changed into those. It really only consisted of some jogging pants and a black t-shirt that she had to tuck in. She was also provided with boots and gloves from Miss Blossom.

"Alright Wendy, go ahead and start cleaning the lake, I have to go and run som errands, but I will be back to check up on your progress," Miss Blossom said.

(-0-)

The first few hours of Wendy's day consisted of her trying to lug big logs out of the lake. Luckily for her the lake was just a place to pull water from, and as a result it was only waist deep. Her arms were aching and her legs were burning from just trying pull a single log out of the water. It wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world, she wanted to obey Miss Blossom and not use her pokemon.

It was about two hours in when Wendy had given up on trying to move anything heavy and settled for starting to remove the scum on top of the lake. It was much easier, although she did get a few odd looks from people who thought she was some girl who liked playing with the scum. She was starting to get bored of cleaning the lake, it was long and tedious work. There was nothing to mix it up until like an angel from above someone had come to help her out.

A sharp craggily voice came from the shore line, when Wendy's head had turned to see who was calling her, she recognized that it was the same person from last night. Jackal cupped his hands over where his mouth would be. "I never got your name, what is it?"

Wendy walked over to Jackal in a wet, stinky sweaty mess. She wiped her forehead and tried to look someone what decent while doing it. "My name is Wendy, you know... you look a lot less sketchy during the day."

Jackal let out a soft chuckle. "So what's a cute girl like you doing cleaning this lake? Oh wait let me guess... was it Miss Blossom?"

Jackal's chuckle made Wendy crack a smile. "Wow, you told me she was your old mentor, you must have known her well. She's been gone for a good while is she ever planning on coming back?"

Jackal reached out his hand and pulled Wendy out of that disgusting lake. "Here why don't you get dressed up, and I can tell you about Miss Blossom and how she likes to train people."

Wendy let out a soft chuckle. "Normally I'd think I'm being kidnapped, but anything beats this." Wendy had to go to the public showers in the town, she was given some soap to use from Jackal, and she quickly freshened up before heading to a small shopping area with him.

The shopping area was mostly outside filled with food vendors and self made salesmen. It was unbelievably busy with little kids running around, adults having a good time, and many different couples enjoying the community. Wendy's eye lit up at the sight of caramel apples being sold, she quickly fell in line and Jackal walked up to join her.

While standing in line a thought came across Wendy's mind. "Jackal... with that mask of yours, how do you eat?"

Jackal sort of stared at Wendy for a bit. "Uh... I take off my mask."

Wendy let out a soft giggle poking Jackal in the shoulder. "I thought you'd say something stupid like." Wendy fixed her voice to sound a lot deeper. 'Oh I don't eat at all.'

Jackal paid for the caramel apples and the two of them decided to continue walking in the shopping district. In the end Jackal ended up giving Wendy his apple once she had finished hers. As the walked by multiple shop vendors Wendy brought up the question of.

"So you said that Miss Blossom was your mentor, so since I plan on training under her, what does she do in terms of training," Wendy asked.

Jackal scratched the back of his head and let out a loud sigh. "So let me assume that Donny the Berry Grove Gym Leader sent you to her place to train right?" When Jackal saw Wendy nod in response he continued on. "That woman is a demon, it's not good to get involved with her or anyone who follows her. Once I learned the truth of what she's really after, I cast myself away from her. Uh... here hold on follow me."

Jackal held onto Wendy's hand and begun to pull her through crowds of people. It wasn't like a heavily packed crowd as Berry Grove Town was still a relatively small town, but being pressed up against multiple people was still slightly uncomfortable. Eventually being pulled through all the crowds Wendy found herself being pulled down a forest trail. The forest had dense canopy with little to no sun poking through the leaves. The sounds of different bug type pokemon could be heard in the distance, but none of that mattered when Jackal had finally pulled her to a shrine she recognized well.

The shrine was the Bridge Shrine, it was the major shrine built all over Yava. The Bridge Shrine represented how Yava is supposed to be a bridge between words. The actual shrine itself was in amazing condition. The cyan tinted roof fit perfectly well with the dark oak logs that supported it. Beneath the roof was a pedestal, the pedestal itself was the interconnection of Three Bridges blocked off by Three Gates, and by legend could only be unlocked by Three Keys. Off to the side of the pedestal were multiple offerings towards the three beings who the shrine was dedicated to. These beings in the Yava region where known as Mind, Body and Soul, but to other regions some might call them Time, Space and Rift.

Jackal bowed before the shrine and so did Wendy. It was right in the minds of people native to Yava to bow before this one shrine. Jackal let out a soft prayer to the three beings before standing back up. Wendy said her thanks to the three beings before standing up as well.

"The Bridge Shrine is quite beautiful isn't it? All three depend on each other, but are yet part of the same system. But you're probably asking why I brought you here," Jackal said.

"Yeah sure, but what does all this have to do with Miss Blossom?" Wendy wondered.

"Wendy, Miss Blossom is not who she seems to be. Have you perhaps heard of a group called 'Perfection'?" Jackal asked.

Wendy let out a long exasperated sigh. "Geez... you're seriously gonna talk about them. That stupid sacrificial cult that has caused more than enough problems around the region. Oh my god... you're edgy as fuck... you're gonna try and make me join aren't you."

Jackal took a step back in shock. "What no oh god no! I'm not going to make you join them. I hate that cult as much as the next guy. All I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't train under

Miss Blossom... uh how do I get you to trust me." Jackal thought on this for a moment, he knew he'd have to show Wendy who he was. "Alright Wendy, I will show you who I am, we've never met in the past before, but please keep my identity a secret."

Wendy took a step back but nodded in response.

"Alright, I won't show you my face, but I will show you the pokemon I trust with my life. He should be proof enough of who I am," Jackal said. He reached into his cloak pulling out a rusted pokeball. He tossed the pokeball up into the air, and out of the pokeball shot out a bright white light. Forming in front of Jackal was the clear shape of dragon type pokemon. It's big beefy arm, thick legs and tail, but tiny wings was a clear sign of what it was going to be.

In front of Wendy stood a dragonite with a cloth slinked over its right arm. The cloth was black and covered with what appeared to be black dragon scales. On where the cloth met dragonite's shoulder was the official Yava Elite Four Emblem. Then it suddenly just clicked with Wendy who exactly Jackal was.

Wendy couldn't believe the person who stood before her. "No way... y-you're Dragon Master Jason Malfous, the second strongest elite four member."

"Yes that's me. Now onto the subject at hand. Do not train under Miss Blossom, she is a powerful member within the cult 'Perfection.' I understand that you need to beat Donny, he's oblivious to who Miss Blossom is, but either way he's a strong trainer. How about I train you instead. I think we should start off by picking flowers, oh also please keep calling me Jackal all right." Jackal said.

"Yeah sure anything you say sir!" Wendy excitedly said.

* * *

Off in a back room of the Berry Grove Gym Donny was doing some of his basic paper work for the town. The office itself was incredibly messy, there were crumpled balls of paper everywhere, and a thick layer of dust on the file cabinet off in the corner. His paper work mostly consisted of league updates, and a few complaints that the gym was brining hostile people to the community.

Right in the middle of his work he received a knock on his door. When he opened up the door standing there was someone he knew quite well.

Donny rubbed the back of his head. "Miss Blossom, I thought we were meeting a week from now. So what's going on in your life... oh wait uh... how about ya just come on in. It's a real grumpig sty in here, but I'll get ya some tea."

Miss Blossom cleared her throat. "I know we were supposed to meet a week from now, but I must talk about the vision, Perfection may have gotten to her. Jackal and his blasted Zoroark might have gotten her."

* * *

 **Author Notes:** Ok so I know this chapter is really short, but this is where the story had to diverge. The next chapter should be longer I promise! Anyway just let me know your thoughts, that'd be awesome!

Just remember that OC Submissions are still open! It's more than ok to submit more than 1 character!


	5. Chapter 5

Wendy felt the soft breeze of a ceiling fan, a familiar scent that was commonly known in every pokemon center across the region. Her belly and arm ached with a great amount of pain, around her she could hear three voices, two of them sounded familiar while the other wasn't. She slowly opened up her eyes to see nurse Joy, and right beside her was a young male whom she didn't know.

This young male had long messy auburn brunette hair. Just past his hair was a soft face, with a pair of bright blue eyes. Despite this he was lanky, skinny and not at all attractive. His clothes were beyond average, it was something that you'd expect a teenager to wear. Just a brown flannel, some black pants and white shoes. Around his shoulder was a travel pack, but that was about it.

Wendy soon noticed that her head was pounding, she raised her hand to her forehead. "Uhg... so who are you?"

As Wendy said those words someone she did recognize came into view. It was Hibiki holding her poochyena "Geez Wendy, what happened to you last night? Oh wait I guess I should probably introduce this guy." Hibiki pointed over to the young male who stood beside nurse Joy. "This is Aiden, we sorta ran into each other the other day, and we found you in awful shape last night."

Wendy sat up in her bed and looked down at both her arms. Her arms were covered in scratches, they were actually large gashes that had scabbed over. She ran her fingers along the skin of her stomach and felt those same scabbed over gashes. She tried to think of what happened the night before, but nothing specific came to mind, other than loud howling.

"Uh... I think I was picking flowers... I was uh training I think," Wendy stuttered.

Wendy soon noticed that Aiden was flipping through a book. "Wendy, by any chance are you uhm... a Yava born native?"

Wendy nodded in response. She didn't talk back mainly because she was getting water from nurse Joy.

Aiden let out a soft blush. "Do you perhaps know what kind of flowers you were picking. There's this legend in Yava that there are white zoroarks that attack those who take from the land. I didn't think they were real, but maybe one attacked you."

Wendy let out a soft chuckle. "Was probably attacked by a territorial Ursarang, they are common in this area. The white zoroark fairytale is just a dumb story to stop kids from ripping flowers out the ground. Yava is known for its silly, scary fairytales."

Aiden shook his head. "I don't think Yava's fairytales are silly at all! I actually find them quite fascinating. Even though they are just fairytales all of them if not most of them came from something that was once true."

After a bit of discussion between the three of them it was decided that they should walk around town. Aiden was sight seeing and Hibiki suggested that since Wendy was born in Yava she could provide the knowledge he so greatly sought for. Wendy agreed as she didn't really have anything better to do, while there was challenging the gym, she could do that at anytime. All though trying to remember what had happened last night puzzled her. With the scabbed over cuts on her arm she looked like she was some sort of self harming individual, but she normally did hide her arms with a red sweater, so in the end it didn't really matter.

Walking out of the room Wendy found herself in the pokemon center lobby, she was forced to pay for the fee as she knew quite well that her three days of free rest were up. In the pokemon center it was the usual scene, some trainers chilling in the lounge, while others were waiting to get their partners all healed up. This is when Wendy noticed that Aiden was excitedly flipping though a pamphlet with Hibiki, it was filled with information on the Aggron Festival that was being held in the town later tonight.

"Uh... Wendy, I have a question, do you by any chance know why you guys have a festival entirely dedicated to Aggrons?" Aiden asked.

Wendy kind of just smiled in response and let out an awkward laugh. "If I'm being completely honest... I have no clue why. It's just tradition, I think I went with my friend once when we were little. It's very similar to festivals that you'd find in Kanto or Johto. There's dancing, food, fireworks, and Aggron themed goodies."

Hibiki quickly tightened her fists. "Oh my gosh! Guys we have to go! Look down there at the bottom, it says the special guest of the night will be The Fighting Type master of the Elite Four! I don't care if they ignore us we have to meet them!"

Wendy sort of looked at both Aiden and Hibiki with an awkward smile. "Yeah... sure it'd be nice to see him again." Wendy mumbled her voice and said to herself. "Not like he's a narcissistic asshole."

Aiden looked at both girls. "I'm alright with going if both of you are."

Wendy put both her hands behind her back. "It's not like I have anything better to do. Plus I've been looking to makes some new friends!"

Hibiki just smiled and grabbed both of Aiden and Wendy's wrists and pulled them out of the door. It was just the three of them to tear up the town, and it now just the three of them to get to know each other. It was still nearing noon and the festival wouldn't happen until later in the day, so it was just a calming walk through Berry Grove Town.

"So Wendy, you have a Riolu and a Pikachu. Seriously how did you get them? Those pokemon are so hard to find in the wild pretty much everywhere in the world," Hibiki asked.

Wendy let out a nervous blush. "Embarrassingly enough, I got them from separate breeders. Pikachu was bred for above average speed and above average physical strength, while my Riolu was bred for personality. In the end Pikachu has managed to carry me through all the gyms while Riolu is kinda just there on the team. So how did you two get your pokemon?"

Hibiki sort of smiled. "It's a long story, but basically what happened was that I found Rei in pretty bad shape. I helped to nurse him back to health, but when I tried to release him back to the wild he kinda just stayed with me. I'd love to share more... but I'm scared that I'll bore you to death."

Aiden rubbed the back of his head. "Well the thing is, I have a little Murkrow named Kei. I was given him to be a sort of practice pokemon. My parents did this to help me well get practice with a real pokemon before getting me an actual starter. During this time Kei and I really grew close and I wanted to keep him. Long story short he's my partner now and nothing will change that. Although Wendy, if you got both Pikachu and Riolu from a breeder, how much did it cost you?"

Wendy let out a nervous wheeze. "So the thing is I only had to pay about 10% of the original price, my friend actually paid the rest for me. I'm still really embarrassed about it, as I practically begged him to buy me my team, and set me up with his personal breeder. Even though I paid only about 10% of what it should have cost, it was basically a fortune."

Hibiki sort of just smiled but asked. "So any reason you haven't nicknamed Pikachu or Riolu?"

Aiden butted in on the conversation. "I was wondering that as well, most people our generation end up giving nicknames to their pokemon."

Wendy put her hands behind her back. "Geez both of you really ask the tough questions. The thing is I haven't really thought about it. I might do it in the future, but as of right now I'll keep calling my pokemon by their species name. Although I did think about giving Pikachu the name Sparky and Ken for Riolu."

As the group walked through the town Aiden was looking forward to seeing all the religious shrines, and historical monuments. Hibiki really wanted to see what Berry Grove Town could offer her in the terms of poetry, photography and just overall get her creative juices flowing. Wendy was mainly sticking around for some friendly conversation.

Wendy took notice at just how curious the two of them were. To her it seemed strange, but it was probably normal to people who weren't native to the region. After all when you're in a town like Berry Grove. Its a mix of modern technology, but it tended to lean more towards the traditional side of Yava. While the town had its pokemon center and a pokemart the main source of trainer goods still came from the locals trying to make a living. The town itself didn't really have any sort of large apartment complex, but more of just small homes dotted throughout the town. As for entertainment, you wouldn't find an arcade in the town, you'd usually end up seeing kids climbing trees, playing in the river, or playing around with their parent's pokemon. Of course the town had its share of dangers like the iron rich river beds, the surrounding forests and the massive water wheels that generated energy for the town from the series of rivers and canals running through the town.

"Look I know it says here on the map that ordinary people should stay away from the iron rich river beds... but c'mon we have to go! It is probably a sight to see!" Hibiki suggested.

Aiden rubbed the back of his head. "I wouldn't mind seeing it... Hibiki if you want to go then we should go... but Wendy, what do you think about it? You want to see them?"

Wendy didn't care that it was dangerous she had pikachu with her. Hibiki was more than a competent trainer. So everything seemed fine. "Yeah sure!"

When the three of them made it to what Berry Grove called Magnetic Beach everyone was surprised to see the sand. The sand had a light grey colour to it, everyone expected to see red sand, as normally that's what iron was in their heads. Walking down onto the sand and picking it up, it was a very fine black sand with tiny white stones mixed in. Near the water there were a few Lairons with some baby Aron. They were happily eating the sand, only shooting a few glances towards the group. There were also a few other people further down the river bank, some were even having a few battles, and this was pumping Wendy up.

"Hey guys! There are trainers down there! I want some free cash!" Wendy said.

"Alright sure!" Hibiki yelled.

Aiden nervously laughed. "I'll just watch."

Wendy excitedly ran down to where the battles were being held. She saw a girl who was probably the same age as her, but then again everyone around her age looked like they were either 13 or 18. She looked sort of boyish, lean, black hair in a pixie cut. Taking a closer look she had pale skin, and large brown eyes. Her clothing was a light gray short sleeve collared button up blouse, a dark purple pinstripe vest with a black pocket watch, black skinny jeans, and black flats.

She walked up to the girl and introduced herself. "Hey are you accepting battles?"

The girl let out a soft smile, but in a cold voice said. "You better be strong, I'm looking for a good opponent. Planning on getting my fourth badge from the gym leader."

Wendy liked this girl's spirit. "Don't worry I can hold my own, let's make this a one on one fight."

"The name is Naoki Morita, and I accept your challenge," Naoki said.

The two of them got set up in an open area by the side of the water. Aiden had offered to be the referee to the fight. Both Wendy and Naoki agreed to the terms that Aiden had set, and both of them were getting pumped to start this fight. Wendy hadn't had a good battle for a while and she was growing in excitement.

Wendy clenched the pokeball in her hand and tossed it out into the field. "Pikachu! Come on out!"

Pikachu formed from the beam of light that came out from the pokeball. Like usual sparks of electricity radiated out from his body, he had a deep stare that showed a soul forged from battle. To Wendy's surprise Naoki didn't look fazed one bit, normally people native to Yava would be shocked to see a Pikachu.

Naoki put two fingers in her mouth and from the sound it was a loud whistle. As she let out the whistle there was a rustle through the leaves and air in the surrounding forest. In front of Pikachu formed what appeared to be dark energy forming into a sort of orb. This orb soon grew arms and in between the arm formed a bright purple flame, until a Lampent had finally made itself known.

Naoki smiled at her opponent. "Well, you're more than welcome to make the first move!"

Wendy smiled back. "Alright! Pikachu let's start this off with Thunder Punch!"

Pikachu clenched his fists as electricity formed around his body. He lunged towards his opponent, and unleashed a fury of punches. He was extremely fast, but Lampent was quite agile. A few of his punches landed but there was the occasional dodge here and there. With each committing punch Lampent slowly started to adapt, but had to float back to its trainer.

"Don't let it escape Pikachu! Keep on that!" Wendy yelled.

Pikachu grunted in response and dashed further towards Lampent. This time was different, while a few punches landed, it seemed that Lampent was getting used to Pikachu's speed. It was skillfully dodging almost every punch, and occasionally deflecting a few of the hits with its arms.

"Pikachu! That Lampent is starting to get used to your speed! Use agility and thunder punch!" Wendy yelled. She quickly glanced at Naoki who just smiled, despite the fact that she was clearly at a disadvantage.

Pikachu was fazing in and out of visibility, and only the sound of electricity interacting with the air could be heard rustling across the trees. Lampent calmly stood in place, but it did occasionally turn its head in the direction of the sound.

"Lapat! It doesn't matter how fast they are! Speed is only and advantage against directed attacks. Use nightshade, but explode the energy out in a dome!" Naoki yelled.

Lapat nodded, there was a dark mist that formed around his body. The air around him became incredibly wavy, he waited until the energy was at a critical point before unleashing it around the entire area. The blast of energy made a screeching screams as it exploded outwards. As the energy passed through Pikachu, he was quickly knocked to the ground from the sudden pain.

"Ah, no way! Pikachu are you alright!" Wendy yelled.

Pikachu clenched his fist and dug it into the ground twisting his arm. He pushed himself up and brushed the dust off of his arms. He looked frustrated as if he thought that nightshade was a cheap shot, like that Lapat didn't deserve to land that hit.

"Lapat, that pikachu is going to be too mobile to land a finishing hit! So use will-o-wisp variation two!" Naoki yelled.

Upon hearing will-o-wisp Wendy got into defense mode. "Pikachu get ready to dodge! If we try to attack that Lampet head on while it's using will-o-wisp you'll get burned for sure!"

Lapat flew high up into the air, and formed multiple purple orbs around his arms. He fired them down at the ground all over the field. Pikachu looked up at the sky and only saw fire. His body was surrounded by a bright white light. He used agility to its maximum, and tried his best to quickly move out of the way. Once the constant rain down had finished Pikachu was completely untouched, all that remained was a field with dim purple orbs dotted around the area.

Pikachu let out a cocky laugh while Wendy boasted, "That was flashy, but it seems like your plans failed!"

"We're not finished! Lapat use astonish! Let's finish this fight!" Naoki yelled.

Lapat flew towards Pikachu. His arms were surrounded by ghostly energy, as he got in close he quickly threw out a right hook which was skillfully blocked by Pikachu's thunder punch. Lapat soon reached down onto the ground and picked up some dirt throwing it into Pikachu's face temporarily blinding him. He quickly spun around smacking pikachu with his arm. Pikachu was sent reeling back, but backed up into one of the purple orbs left by the will-o-wisp. As his foot made contact with the orb, the orb exploded with great force. Leaving Pikachu concealed by a smoke cloud.

"Pikachu!" Wendy yelled. She watched carefully as the smoke cleared to reveal Pikachu knocked completely out cold.

Lapat quickly flew over to his trainer's side and was pleased by the praise it was given. On the other hand Wendy slowly picked up her partner and returned it.

"Damn it... I thought we had that one," Wendy looked at her Naoki and walked up to her. "I guess it was a good fight."

Naoki looked at pikachu and placed a can of lemonade in its paws. "There that should help, Wendy was it? Just a tip, getting the fourth badge is usually what separates the amateurs from the pros. You were losing the moment you charged head on, simply increasing your speed and power makes you very predictable."

Naoki walked away leaving Wendy standing there clenching pikachu in her arms. She felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned her head only to be met eye to eye with Aiden and Hibiki. "I just don't understand, ever since the third badge... I've been on a bit of a losing streak."

Aiden placed his hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Wendy take it from a guy who knows what it's like to lose constantly. I'm not a strong battler, it's the probably the reason I've stopped trying to be a serious trainer all together. But you're so much better than I ever was, and there's probably so much room to grow. You really only have two pokemon on your team, so it limits your options a bit, but don't worry I'm sure things will get better from here on out."

Hibiki grabbed Wendy and Aiden's wrist and placed her hand on top of both of theirs. "Look here guys we're a team. I know we just all started to get to know each other, but I don't think I've felt this way about other people in awhile. It's kinda dangerous out here what do you say, I think we should all travel as a group. We can all fill out our goals just the three of us! Doesn't it sound fun!"

Wendy sort of just smiled. "The last time I tried to travel alone I nearly died. It feels as if I've known both of you for a long time. I'm in if all of you are in!"

Aiden laughed. "It might not be so bad to have some friends for once, yeah I'm in. After all I'd love for Wendy here to tell me all about the Yava region."

All three of them raised their hands in the air and yelled out. "So you guys wanna eat?"

* * *

 **Author Notes:** Sorry that this update took forever, truth is that pokemon was starting to lose interest, but I really wanted to continue the story. So I was caught in this long burnout cycle, but then I found the beauty that is fan made pokemon games. I've recently been playing Pokemon Rejuvenation, and Pokemon Reborn. Oh and don't you dare give me any sort of advice or story spoilers I want to figure out everything for myself! They have reignited my passion for this franchise, and I have so many flowing ideas now!

Let me know your thoughts and stuff, especially what you guys think about the OCs who were introduced in this chapter, down below I'll be putting my thoughts and opinions on the characters!

Aiden created by " **artrt7900** "

This is an amazing example of a character that fits into a traveling companion role. I love how complex you made him, and it really lets me build on his character to hopefully bring out those smaller hidden qualities he has. Amazing job!

Hibiki created by " **Kenjispiritslasher** "

Much like Aiden this character blew me out of the water. She has small complexities that I just love, and it makes her a perfect travel companion for the group. Her personality makes for some great chemistry, and overall I just really love the character.

Naoki created by " **POMForever** "

I'm not even sure you read this version of the story, but your character was perfect for being the rival of Wendy. Somewhat equal team strength, only being slightly better than Wendy. She's just awesome. Thank you for submitting such an awesome character!

Remember Character Submissions are still open! I've even received some awesome elite four members, and even some gym leaders. Ask if you want to add these kinds of characters. Anyway see you guys in the next chapter


	6. Chapter 6

Wendy, Aiden and Hibiki had just finished eating their meal, and It was finally time for the event they had all anticipated for. It was just a few more hours until the Aggron Festival would be taking place. Upon learning that the festival would be held in the middle of the town square it filled Wendy with an undying nostalgia. She thought back to her childhood days to when she first went to the festival in her home town. She could already hear the laughter, the chatter and the smell of red bean paste pastries. On the outside Wendy appeared calm, but deep down she was very excited, she wanted to show Aiden and Hibiki just how fun festivals could be.

When they got to town square they expect to see a crowd of excited kids, parents, and young adults, but instead they saw a crowd of angry adults. The current entrance to the festival was being blocked off. This was a common occurrence that a festival might be blocked off later than it should be. Wendy found it odd why people were cranky. She looked over to Aiden and Hibiki. It seemed neither one of them wanted to ask, but Wendy just needed to know.

She walked up to the crowd and tapped on the shoulder of someone who probably wouldn't snap her in half. "Uh... sir, what's the hold up?"

The person she asked and turned around he let out a loud sigh. "These entitled idiots from the Perfection Cult are blocking the way. None of the adults here were able to best them in battle. Apparently we're not worthy to hold a festival that's purely just to have fun."

Wendy walked back to Aiden and Hibiki. It was obvious from her body language and expression that she was slightly scared. She looked her friends in the eye and said. "We should go back. Uh... I'm not exactly sure which regions you two are home too, but I'm sure there's organized crime. Here in Yava we have a cult named Perfection, if they're here we should go."

Hibiki took in a deep breath of air. "I wasn't going to say it, but... Wendy, I could tell you were really looking forward to the festival! C'mon let's take on who ever is blocking the way!"

Wendy instantly shook her head. "No, I am not dealing with something dangerous like Perfection. This isn't some tv show or movie where kids or teenagers have the strength to defeat an evil organization."

Aiden watched as the two girls went back and forth on what to do. He was nervous to step in, he wanted to input his own opinion into this argument, but he was scared that both of them would completely shove him aside. He twiddled his fingers together, but he knew he had to take action when he saw Hibiki starting to walk towards the crowd.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and she instantly turned around to face him. "Hibiki! I... I... uh... sorry I didn't mean anything by that. I just wanted to s-say... uhm..." Letting out a loud sigh he looked Hibiki right in the eye. "I think it would be best to wait for someone like the gym leader to get here."

Hibiki looked at Aiden with an expression of concern. "You guys, are really worried about this. Alright, I won't go in to attack them." As she said these words there was a sudden commotion at the front of the crowd.

While all three of them agreed not to take on Perfection, they decided to go ahead and look at was going on. Pushing through the cramped, smelly crowd they finally got to the opening to see who was blocking the way. Standing there were two men in Perfection Uniforms. Their height was average, but the emblem of Perfection, was no mistake. They wore simple white clothing with the emblem on their shoulder. The emblem itself was made from silver and gold, but it was engraved with a picture of Giritina, Dialga and Palkia shaping the world.

Emerging from the crowd was a little kid who was just over four feet tall. He had pale messy blonde hair and golden eyes. He wore simple clothing which was very similar to the people blocking the way minus the Perfection Emblem. He had some beige jeans and some white shoes.

In a very nervous voice he stuttered. "M-move out of th-the way!"

The two men sort of just looked at the kid and laughed. "What are ya going to do about it? Every adult here couldn't defeat us, what can a kid like you do?"

The kid clenched the brown leather bag around his shoulder. "I... if I beat either of you in a pokemon battle... Then you stop blocking the entrance, b-but if you w-win... well I g-guess that'd make you guys champions."

"I don't give a single fuck for whatever that means. Kid you're gonna wish you never stepped away from your house." The man held a pokeball in his hand and tossed it forward. The pokeball opened up and a bright orange light came out, from the sparkling light formed a Torterra. This Torterra was different, it was almost twice the size of a regular Torterra, and instead of being green in some areas it had turned completely red. The tree on its back was completely charred and devoid of life. "Be sure to take notes kid, this is a Grifta Pokemon. Basically it's a pokemon created through genetic editing, this is the embodiment of perfection!"

The young kid stared at the pokemon that stood before him. His face was stone cold and had a sense of unwavering bravery to it, completely different to the demeanor he had shown before. He smiled, pulled out a very old and damaged pokeball. From the pokeball a bright light shot out and formed into a tiny zigzagoon. Looking closer the zigzagoon had bits of fur missing and had the stench of garbage even from far away. Its eyes were pale and completely grey and it was obvious that this zigzagoon was very old.

"My name is Timothy Harth, and thank you for accepting my challenge!"

The older man looked at Timothy and smiled. "If we're introducing ourselves, then you can call me Bryant. Giving my name won't really matter, either way you're losing this fight." Bryant gritted his teeth at this young kid and took in a deep breath. "Torterra destroy this kid! Use Earthquake!"

Torterra let out a loud battle cry, but as it did a voice within the crowd yelled out. "Bryant stop!"

Torterra turned its head and bowed in respect for the person who walked out of the crowd. This person looked to be about six feet tall, he had some nicely coloured well kept blond hair. He had calming soft blue eyes, but his eyes also had a hint of cold intimidation behind them. He was quite muscular, and had a body that was practically perfection. His clothes mostly consisted of a unbuttoned white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Underneath the dress shirt was a dark grey shirt, he wore some beige jeans with a pair of simple white shoes.

He spoke in a soft voice to the people blocking the festival. "Bryant, our organization doesn't do this anymore. Please let the people of this town enjoy their festival, after all it was my mother's favourite festival, and I have fond memories of this place. Let the people of this humble town create fond memories with their friends and families as well."

What followed was an odd conversation between the guy with blonde two men whom were blocking the entrance to the festival. During the conversation Wendy could only pick out a few details as most of the crowd excitedly headed towards their individual booths. The tiny details were things along the lines of the blonde's name being 'Ross Valentino' other than that it seemed as the two men who blocked the entrance to the festival were very scared of him.

Wendy felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Hibiki and Aiden sort of just staring at her. "Oh uh... sorry I was just spacing out."

Hibiki let out a soft giggle. "Yeah no kidding, you were staring at that blonde guy for a few good minutes. At least we know someone is into guys like that."

Aiden sort of rubbed the back of his head. "So you guys want to head into the festival now?"

The two girls nodded and excitedly headed into the festival. Stepping at the entrance, there was a well decorated wooden arch that had small grey bells that chimed in the slight breeze. The pillars supporting the wooden arch were two wooden statues representing Aggron. In the festival itself were many booths, each booth either had small games where you could win prizes, or buy food from. The soft orange lantern lights illuminated the whole area, and you could see children as well as adults having a grand time.

The gang decided to play a few games here and there, they ended buying a good amount of food, but near the end of their day it was very clear that none of them were good at a simple baseball throw.

"I swear to god that I will get that plushy!" Wendy yelled as she slapped a wad of cash on the counter. The elderly man who was running the booth had a wide grin on his face as he handed Wendy a few more balls.

She took in a deep breath, reeled her arm back and with all her might threw the ball, only for it to do exactly what it had done the dozen of tries before. She completely missed the stack of bottles. The same could be said for both Hibiki and Aiden who were trying to win the same prize.

Hibiki groaned and placed in her face in the palm of her hand. "How is it we're all pokemon trainers who are supposed to throw a pokeball can't do a simple thing like this!"

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and the voice behind her was semi-deep and smooth. "Hey, you mind if I try?" The guy behind her was tall he had smooth black hair, slightly tanned skin, blue eyes, and an unwavering smile. His clothing made him look sort of fit, but his slightly rounded face made her question if he was extremely fit or just barely average. He wore a t-shirt that was about three quarters blue and the rest of it was white, on top of that he wore an unzipped maroon sweater, some black jogging pants, and regular white and black sneakers.

The guy said with a bright smile "S-sorry, uh do you think I could give it a try. Hey say if I win I'll let you keep the prize!"

"Y-yeah sure..." Hibiki stuttered.

Aiden took notice at the sparkle in Hibiki's eyes and the blush running across her cheeks. He took a look at Wendy who was still trying to knock down the stack of bottles with increasing frustration.

The boy with black hair held the baseball in his hands. His eyes widened up as he felt the weight of it in his hand. He let out a sigh as he stared at stack of five bottles. He thought to himself "This is unfair, those metal bottles are filled with metallic sand, and these baseballs aren't regular baseballs either, they're filled with nothing but air, the crust is only an inch thick." Taking in a deep breath he reeled back his arm, but as he did so a small faded light could be seen around his fingers. "It doesn't really matter how unfair this is I'll win no matter what." He quickly turned his body and whipped the ball as hard as he could, the ball made a whisking sound as it traveled through the air the ball soon hit one of the prizes knocking down the entire rack, in result knocking down every bottle there.

"Oops my finger slipped! But I did knock down the bottles"

The booth manager was clearly upset, he pulled the guy who knocked down all of his prizes close. He whispered "Look I already know who you are, you don't need to act so silly because there are girls around. Just pick whatever prize you want."

"Wow I've been blown, anyway just call me Justin, and don't forget to buy my merch!" He grabbed a moderately sized prize from the booth and handed it to Hibiki who still practically had sparkles in her eyes.

"OMG y-you're Justin Mendoza! I thought I recognized you. I saw you in totally cool interview with Yava Idol Hennacy! You're the Fighting Type master of the Elite Four!" Hibiki yelled.

Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled poster. "That'd be me! Remember to buy my merchandise. I sell clanenders, t-shirts, hats and even a energy drink. Also if you see me at a fan meet up, I might even autograph it for you." This is when his eyes locked with a certain red head who had her arms completely crossed.

Wendy let out an annoyed grumble. "Justin, what are you doing here?"

Justin slowly walked up to her and placed his hand on the back of his head. He let out a nervous chuckle "What's with the annoyed look, is that anyway to treat your next door? It's been so long since I've seen you! If you're here in Berry Grove you must be challenging Donny for that eighth badge right?"

Wendy glared at Justin and pushed him away with a forceful shove. Angrily she yelled out. "You didn't answer my question."

"Oh... I thought it'd be obvious. I'm here to uh... well. I'm here to enjoy the festival dumb dumb." Justin laughed.

"If that's all then. I challenge you to a battle! I'll win this time, you might be elite four now, but I know I can beat you. You only started your journey two years earlier than I did, there shouldn't be a huge difference in our skill!" Wendy yelled.

Justin let out a sigh. "You're always so straight to the point. Ok since we're friends I'll have a battle. I'll use one of my pokemon you're free to use however many you have in your party."

Wendy crossed her arms in frustration. "You better not pull your punches on me!"

Justin smiled in response. "Don't worry I won't"

* * *

The two of them found a battlefield which was relatively away from any large crowd. Despite them trying to avoid people for this battlefield there were quite a few trainers who did recognize who Justin was, and as a result there was a small crowd. The night sky had stars that glittered a feint light over the small battlefield, the bright sounds of the festival could be heard over the rustle of the night trees.

Wendy took in a deep breath and waited for Aiden to take his step as the volunteer referee. She gave Justin an intimidating glare, and thought to herself. "He only started his journey two years earlier than I did, there's no way in hell that he's stronger than me. We basically grew up together there's no way I'll lose to him this time." She clenched the pokeball in her hand and tossed it onto the battlefield.

"Riolu! Come on out!" When the pokeball opened up Riolu soon formed at Wendy's feet. Riolu took a good look at its surroundings and like usual noticed that it was a battle. He looked back at Wendy with a nervous expression.

Wendy yelled out in an angry voice. "Riolu, now is not the time to be scared you better give this your all or else!"

Once Justin's eyes met Riolu his instantly perked up. He thought to himself. "Wow, Riolu has really grown up from when he was just a little baby! Time flies huh." Composing himself he reached behind his back and clenched a tattered scared up pokeball. "It's your time to shine! Come one out Blaziken!"

As soon as Justin's pokeball opened up it was as if a atomic bomb had gone off on the battlefield. The immense heat radiating from the pokeball made the air unbearable to breath, the grass around the area had withered away which then soon charred up. Out from the pokeball stood a tall menacing figure engulfed in a pillar of flames, and just past the flames you could just barely make out the shape of a blaziken.

Hibiki, Aiden and the small crowd had gone wide eyed at the mere sight of this pokemon. There was just this presence about it that gave it an extremely ferocious aura. Wendy grunted at the sight of Justin's Blaziken as if she wasn't impressed. Riolu looked back at Wendy with tears welling up in its eyes.

Justin got into a wide spread stance, and as a result Blaziken did the exact same thing. The two of them were completely in sync. Every tiny movement Justin did with his arms, legs, shoulders, and even down to each individual breath Blaziken followed.

"Humph! Riolu use cut!" Wendy yelled.

Riolu stuttered back a bit, but knowing his trainer he did what he was told. He nervously placed both of his hands together, and started to form a blade in his hands. The bright white blade shone with a weak light, as if it was barely able to hold a shape. He held the blade in front of him and waited.

"Come on Riolu what the hell are you waiting for! There's no time to waste attack him already!" Wendy yelled.

Riolu nervously closed his eyes and ran towards Blaziken wildly swinging the sword. Blaziken stood there waiting for Riolu to approach. Once Riolu was close enough, Justin raised his hand and what echoed through the air was the sound of him snapping his fingers. In that instant Riolu felt a sharp pain shoot up through his spine, the pain wasn't too bad but, the hit itself was fast and hard. The blade held in his hand completely disappeared into thin air, and Riolu fell right to the ground completely unconscious.

"Riolu return." Wendy yelled. She bit the side of her cheek and whispered under her breath. "Fucking typical Justin using his cheap tricks." She looked him in the eye and yelled out. "Justin, I thought you said you weren't going to pull your punches with me!"

"What? Wendy, I'm not pulling my punches. I decided to end that one quickly cause it was very clear that Riolu didn't have the intention of fighting. Come on send out your next pokemon, I promise I'm not holding back." Justin explained.

"Fine then! If you're in such a hurry to lose! Pikachu come on out!" Wendy yelled.

Pikachu landed on the field and glared at his opponent and cried out a mocking laugh. He smacked his fist into the palm of his hand and taunted Blaziken. A violent amount of electricity was radiating out from Pikachu much in the same way Blaziken had a wall of flames constantly around it.

Blaziken looked back at his master and let out a angry battle cry. Justin nodded in response, but he soon called out to Wendy. "You're more than welcome to make the first move!"

"Fine then! Pikachu, use thunder punch! Don't give Blaziken room to breath!" Wendy yelled.

Pikachu yelled out a deep battle cry. Energy sparked around his body his fists were engulfed in electricity, and he quickly started dashing at Blaziken. He threw the first fist, but only managed to hit air. He landed on the ground and dashed at Blaziken once again.

Blaziken was beginning to notice that Pikachu had a great combat sense. He was watching his opponent with constant dodges, but even then he noticed that Pikachu was picking up on some of his own bad habits as a fighter. There were times where Pikachu would land small hits that would just barely graze his firewall.

"That pikachu is fast alright. Blaziken, you know what to against a fast opponent! Jump up into the air and fire off tons of embers at the ground!" Justin yelled.

Blaziken nodded, and quickly dashed back to distance himself from Pikachu.

"Not so fast! Pikachu use agility!" Wendy yelled.

Pikachu instantly closed the distance which Blaziken had made. The electricity surrounding Pikachu's fist had grown exponentially he slammed his fist into Blaziken's torso. Blaziken's back slammed into the ground, but he quickly got up and dashed around the battlefield trying to keep his movements unpredictable.

"Alright not bad, Blaziken get that pikachu off of your tail! Use flame dome!" Justin yelled

"What the hell is that move?!" Wendy thought.

The flame wall surrounding Blaziken had shot outwards in the form of a dome. The heat was extremely intense. As if the air couldn't become more unbearable, the heat waves in the air had begun to block Wendy's vision, but what she saw she couldn't believe. The floor of the battle field had completely melted into lava except for a few patches of stone. Pikachu was lucky that dome had stopped at his feet or else he would've been completely scorched from an attack like that.

"You didn't want me to pull my punches Wendy! Just be careful what you wish for!" There was a very clear field of energy dancing around Justin's body as he began to yell out loud. Blaziken did the exact same thing. Soon Blaziken's body began to glow with a bright white light. His body became much taller and his muscles became more defined. Long streams of flame erupted from his wrists, and the crest on his head had completely changed shape.

Standing before Wendy was a fully mega evolved Blaziken. She stuttered back a bit at the sheer amount of heat it was giving off. It was as if she was staring at the sun itself, and uncharacteristically, Pikachu looked back at Wendy with a face of pure fear.

"Blaziken! Take out your frustrations with that earlier taunt! No mercy close combat!" Justin yelled.

"Hold on Pikachu return!" Wendy yelled. She quickly returned Pikachu to his pokeball and fell to her knees. The image of Justin she had earlier had completely disappeared. She knew him as this goofy guy, but right now he was a killer. She knew that instant that she had a long way to go.

Once things were given a chance to cool off. Aiden and Hibiki helped out Riolu to recover, turns out the damage his body was very minimal. The two them felt bad for Wendy who had her back placed up against a tree, she was curled up into a ball, her arms were wrapped around her knees and her head was buried deep within her arms.

She looked up to the starry sky and was greeted with a water bottle towards her face. It was Aiden who wore a nervous smile. "Look you shouldn't take that loss too hard. Justin is a elite four member after all. He probably worked really hard to get that spot."

Wendy gladly took the bottle of water, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Aiden sat beside her. She let out a long sigh. "It just pisses me off so much on how he's so strong, and I'm not. Ever since I lost to Donny its just been loss after loss after loss. Justin and I, we grew up together we were next door neighbours, we went to the same school, which I ended up doing much better than he did. The only difference is that he's been on his journey for five years while I've only been on mine for three. How could two years be all that much when it comes to his strength."

Aiden folded his hands together and turned his head towards Wendy before quickly turning the other way. "I... I know you've heard me say this before, but please take it from a guy who has lost many times, too many times to count even. I'm not remotely special at anything, I'm completely normal, and when it comes to battling oh boy, I am terrible at it. Even though I'm terrible at things doesn't mean I cry and whine about it. I have to work my butt off to even do the simplest things. It took me a good three months to confidently say 'aristocrats' and even then it sounds pretty terrible."

Wendy let out a soft chuckle. "You know that joke doesn't really work through text."

Aiden sort of blushed from embarrassment. "What I'm trying to say is, don't let losing make you quit, trust me I know from experience." Aiden got up and held out his hand. "Come on there's still a festival to enjoy."

Wendy smiled and brushed her hair behind her ear. She got up as she felt her cheeks get slightly warm. "Thanks for the advice."

* * *

 **Author Notes:** Well there we go! Finally done this chapter. I am really sorry for how long this took. I know I said last chapter that I wanted this one to come out relatively quickly, but life got in the way. Mainly has to do with school and getting prepared for what happens beyond school for me.

Anyway tell me what you thought. I was getting some concerns mainly from my beta on why he thought Wendy had an overwhelming overconfidence and I really hope that this chapter cleared that up. Also tell me what you guys think of the chemistry between the characters and maybe even the fight itself!

Also let me know what you guys thought on the brand new characters who were introduced. This includes. Timothy, Bryant, Ross and Justin.

Thanks for reading I'll see you guys in the next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

**Author Notes:** This chapter is much shorter than the previous one and sorry about that. This is just supposed to be a mini chapter that will help develop some personalities.

* * *

Wendy, Aiden and Hibiki were all on a rough dirt, gravel path. Now behind them was Berry Grove and in front was the pure beauty of Yava's landscape. The rolling hills went on for what seemed like miles, and the soft breeze of the western wind was cool to the touch. The grass whistled in delight, and the wonderful weather really helped Wendy think back to the three days that flew by after the Aggron Festival.

 **3 Days Ago**

Wendy stood in the pokemon center after another failed attempt against Donny. With the help of Aiden and Hibiki, she decided that it would no longer be beneficial to stay in Berry Grove. Donny was out of her league and was clearly too strong to take at the moment. Just as she was about to leave the pokemon center a familiar voice called out to her.

"Wendy wait!"

She turned around to see Justin standing there with that dumb smile of his. She folded her hands let out a loud annoyed sigh. "What do you want? My friends are waiting for me. You wanna rant or make fun of me losing against Donny? Say it now."

Justin rubbed the back of his head. "No, not at all. Why would I make fun of you, we are friends right? Anyway... I was thinking that maybe you could use another team member, you can only make it so far with one pokemon that wants to battle."

Justin walked up to his childhood friend, and like a dork placed a brand new pokeball on her trainer belt. "Don't worry I already did all the paperwork. Good luck out there!"

 **Back To Present**

Wendy stared at the brand new pokeball that she had received from Justin. The ball itself glistened in the light, and it looked practically unused. Even though she knew the pokemon was supposed to be new she still had yet to see what kind of pokemon it was. She still had mixed feelings about receiving a pokemon this way, and she didn't even know if the pokemon inside this pokeball wanted to leave Justin. Either way Wendy looked at her sides and was glad to see that both Hibiki and Aiden agreed to travel with her. Despite her losses it seemed as if things were finally starting to shape up.

It had been some time since the three of them had departed from Berry Grove, in fact the town was no longer insight. The scenery had turned from rolling hills to a small freshwater stream and a few berry bushes dotted around the area. Wendy was quite impressed at the fact how well both Hibiki and Aiden knew how to use a map and compass, as if they had been on long lasting journeys before.

It was just a few more hours until Wendy could feel the souls on her feet burning and exhaustion beginning to take place. "Guys... I'm really sorry to say this, but could we stop. My feet are killing me! I'm not nearly as strong as the two of you are. Also I'm kinda hungry," Wendy said.

Aiden smiled and sat down beside Wendy who sat down beside her. "Hibiki... we should take a break."

Hibiki turned around with Rei in her arms. She gently put him down and looked at both of her friends. "So lunch break then?"

Once it was decided to have a lunch break Aiden got out a blanket and laid it out across the grass. He also brought out Kei, his murkrow to go ahead look around the area, but mainly to let him stretch his wings. Rei instantly found that it was fun to play tag with with Kei.

Hibiki sat down on the blanket right next to Aiden as she did want to talk to him about something that happened during the Aggron Festival. She took in a deep breath and exhaled. "So... uhm I just wanted to talk to you about the fact that I'm really sorry that I kept stepping on your toes during the Aggron dance! We paled in comparison to how in sync Justin and Wendy were."

Aiden let out a nervous laugh, he tilted his head completely down and nervously touched the tips of his fingers. "O-oh th-that! No... uhm... you don't ne-need to worry about that! It was all might fault! I'm not good a much of anything!"

There was a nervous blush that ran across Hibiki's face. "No, that was all my fault! I'm serious! I asked you to dance as a joke! I didn't expect you to dance with someone like me! I sort of just did it cause Wendy said dancing was fun!"

Aiden rubbed the back of his head. "I thought it was fun... did you?"

Hibiki placed both of her hands together. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it."

Wendy had finished her meal which simply consisted of a 'add hot water to dry power' for a makeshift oatmeal. When she was finished with her bland meal she had found a clearing beside the river in front of her was Pikachu and Riolu. She already debriefed Riolu on the fact that this was not a sparring match against Pikachu again.

"Alright you two. We have a new member on the team, make sure you treat them with respect." Wendy clenched the pokeball she received from Justin in her hand. She soon noticed that both Aiden and Hibiki were behind her, as well as their respective pokemon were beside Pikachu and Riolu. "Ok here goes nothing... come on out!"

The pokeball spun around in the air and opened up. A light blue light shot out from the pokeball and formed in front of everyone. The pokemon was about the same height as both Pikachu and Riolu, but its head and body began to round out. It had a round white head, two tiny white arms, a round turquoise body, small feet and tail. The standing feature of this pokemon was the shell that was locked onto the center of its body.

"An... OSHAWOTT!" Wendy squealed. She ran up and instantly picked up the pokemon in her arms, and spun around it rubbing her face into its cheek. "OMG OMG OMG! You guys have no idea how badly I've wanted an Oshawott all my life!" She squeezed the tiny otter pokemon in her arms, clearly making it very uncomfortable. "You and I are going to be the bestest of friends."

Wendy put down Oshawott leaving the pokemon in quite a confused state when she stood up straight and saluted towards the sky. "Captain Oshawott reporting for duty!" She kneeled down to look her new team member in the eye.

Hibiki who was watching from afar walked up to Wendy. "Wow an Oshawott huh. You seem really... really excited. So might I ask uhm... who's Captain Oshawott?"

There was a bright sparkle in Wendy's eyes, it was something that Hibiki hadn't seen before. When closed her eyes, put one hand on her hip and covered her eyes. "He is the defender of this world, the protector of everything that breaths, and the ambassador for all that is good! He is the great the wonderful Captain Oshawott!"

Wendy's final pose was bright wide eyes, a wide stance and both of her hands were making the stereotypical peace symbol. She squealed out "How can you not know who the great Captain Oshawott is!?"

Hibiki scratched the back of her head. "Back in Johto we didn't really get to see any shows that came from Unova. So I never got the chance to see anything related to that franchise."

Wendy quickly glanced at her surroundings. She took in a deep breath, wrapped her arm around Hibiki and started to drag her towards Aiden. "Well let me tell you friend to friend what you're missing out on. In fact let me also tell Aiden what he's missing out on!"

What followed was a long confusing conversation with Wendy about her the tv show she grew up with. Both Hibiki and Aiden understood the premise, but didn't understand why anyone would reasonably watch the show.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Let me get this straight... the first three seasons of the show which consisted of 150 episodes each were all comedic satire. Then only after that it became a series with a story?!" Hibiki yelled out.

"That's what you're concerned about? Wait more on the actual story itself... so it went from being a show without a story to one with a complex story like that. So what you're saying is that when the story elements were introduced you found out that Captain Oshawott was not an ordinary Oshawott. That he was actually a cyborg, created by Arceus himself, reincarnated from an unknown legendary pokemon, then was briefly given the body of a human because he was originally human from the start, then reverted back into a pokemon when the love of his life turned into a pidove and flew into the sky." Aiden taking in a deep breath. "Only to find out that the love of his life was actually behind all the evil in his world, now with the task at hand he has to take her down, and when he takes her down it turns out that it was all a dream?!"

With a big bright smile Wendy nodded. "Isn't it the best thing you ever heard!"

Both Hibiki and Aiden stared at their red headed friend and wondered if she was joking, or being serious.

Each of the pokemon were playing around with each other. Wendy's Pikachu, Riolu and Oshawott were all getting to know each other. While it seemed that Rei and Kei loved to hang around each other. The two of them despite loving to play together did also end up staying near their respective trainer.

While Pikachu and Riolu tried to get to know their new teammate a fight had quickly broken out between Pikachu and Oshawott. Behind Oshawott was Riolu who was shivering, Pikachu's body was angrily surrounded by sparks of electricity. Oshawott stood proudly in front of Riolu, he didn't understand the ideals of his teammate.

"Why are you forcing him to spar with you!" Oshawott yelled.

"Huh?! What about it! He started stepping out of line you piece of shit! I'll fucking kill you I'm at the clear type advantage a weak water type like you couldn't stand up to me." Pikachu yelled.

"I'm not here to prove who's stronger or weaker. I hate it when I see a pokemon like you pick on others who don't want to fight. You don't want to make me draw my blade." Oshawott scowled.

"You're pissing me off!" Pikachu yelled. His fists were completely surrounded by electricity. He lunged towards Oshawott.

Oshawott quickly grabbed onto Riolu and wrapped her body around him. Riolu felt cold to the touch on her fury skin. She tightly wrapped around the shiver in his body to try and calm him down, but a sharp, harsh pain shot up her spine. There was a large amount of electricity pulsing throughout her body.

Riolu looked up at Oshawott who had protected him from a thunder punch. She looked so heroic, so beautiful from that angle. She was someone to look up to. He trusted her to protect him. He couldn't say a single word at the time, he could only close his eyes in a mixture of fear and peace.

There was a loud pitter patter running towards the three of them. Pikachu looked over his shoulder and gave his trainer a respectful bow. Oshawott crossed her arms as she knew the order of following events. She had to endure an earful from her new trainer about respect, Pikachu received the same speech, but he seemed completely fine with it.

Wendy picked up Oshawott by the arms and held her by the arms. "Since you're the newest member of the team, I'll let you off with a warning, but there is also something that I'd like to do... it's something I've never done with a pokemon before. Is it alright if I give you a nickname?"

Oshawott thought on it for a little bit, her previous master Justin didn't really call her by anything special. The breeder she came from constantly called her by a code number and any others she met simply called her by her species name. She looked her trainer in the eye and waved a bright smile.

"Oh... I guess I should figure out if you're a boy or a girl then. Uh... raise your right arm if you're a boy and raise the other if you're a girl!" Wendy smiled.

Oshawott raised her left arm high up into the air with a big bright smile that Wendy found completely adorable.

Wendy smiled back. "Alright then how about I call you Laura!"

* * *

 **Author Notes:** So this was just supposed to be a small mini chapter introducing a few things. Just let me know your thoughts and from here on out I want to develop the pokemon personalities a bit more if that's ok with you guys!


	8. Chapter 8

Deep dark clouds filled with thunder crashed by the minute. The earthy soil had completely turned to mud, and many large puddles formed on the flat land. It was a heavy thunderstorm that came crashing down on Hibiki, Aiden and Wendy. They ran towards a small building in the distance. From afar the building was only one story tall, with green tiled walls. Looking at the front it had two small windows with a purple door sandwiched between them. A dim flickering light came through the windows, and atop of the house were small puffs of smoke.

"C'mon guys! Just a little bit more!" Wendy yelled.

The three of them had finally made it to the house, their lungs were burning. Wendy could barely get a single exhale out as she was simply gasping for air. Hibiki's head was spinning, and Aiden was on the verge of throwing up. Their clothes were heavy, and being this soaked, everyone of them felt cold to the touch.

They leaned against the walls of the tiny house. They were able to gain a small amount of cover thanks to the slight overhang. It was clear to all of them that this was probably their only chance of staying dry. They needed to ask whoever was home to let them stay for the night. Wendy tried to get a few words out, but she too deprived of oxygen to speak, and Hibiki was clearly still extremely dizzy. It didn't help that it was basically nearing mid night and the rain had caught them in their sleep. Aiden was the only one who could really do much of anything, he could still talk, but he was still extremely out of breath. Either way he mustered up the courage to knock on the door.

It wasn't long until the door opened up to reveal a tall man who messy dark navy blue hair. His eyes were a dull jade, but more importantly he was very well built. He had strong broad shoulders and arms that were the size of tree trunks. His skin was quite tanned, and he had a very friendly aura with the soft smile he emitted. His clothing entirely consisted of a dirty blue plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Underneath was a white shirt with dirt smeared at the sides, he wore some torn up farmers pants and had a blue bandana around his neck.

"My goodness, if it ain't Wendy, Hibiki and Aiden. It's been so long since I seen you folks."

The three of them looked up at the man talking to them in confusion. Aiden in an exhausted breath said. "Huff... I don't mean to be rude, but have we met?"

It was as if a switch had flicked inside of this strange man's head. "By golly, it has been so long since I got visitors... sorry your names kinda just came to me. The name's Donn— I mean Daniel. It's a real heck of a storm out there! Reminds me of somethin that happened way back. So what brings y'all to my humble home?"

Wendy placed both of her hands on her knees finally recovering just enough to speak. "Hey look here buddy! It's pouring outside, we were wondering if you could let us stay at your house up until the rain let up."

Daniel scratched the back of his head. "Ya see, this home ain't gonna fit much for more than one person. But I do have a few sheds in the back if you'd be alright with usin em. They ain't much for comfort, but they're warm and dry. I'll let you use the largest of em."

Daniel walked back into the house and grabbed a handheld lamp giving it to the three of them. "There that oughta keep ya warm. Sorry but I can't have you three lightin a flame in the shed."

The three of them all thanked Daniel for the kindness he extended out to them. They reached the sheds. They soon spotted largest one, it was more like a barn than a shed it was made out of a dark wood, and the outside of it was fenced off with a small pond off to the side. There was a large silo off to the left of it. They slowly opened up the door and noticed that it was completely empty, it was very dark in there, but they eventually lit some of the lamps that were already in there using the oil and heat from the lamp Daniel gave them.

Once the inside of the shed was they had gotten the lighting to reach dimly lit room. Across the ground were bundles of hay, and tiny pieces of grass. Oddly it was much warmer inside the actual shed than it was outside, and there was a some what rustic scent that filled the room. When all of them had finally calmed down and settled into their temporary home both Wendy and Hibiki had one thought running across their mind.

Hibiki yelled out. "Is it just me or does that guy seem like an older version of the Berry Grove Gym Leader?!"

Wendy smiled and let out a sigh of relief. "Ok thank goodness! I didn't want to say it, but he reminds me of Donny so much!"

Meanwhile all of their pokemon were getting settled in the straw hay mixture that was scattered throughout the shed. Both Pikachu, Riolu and Laura all seemed very accustomed to sleeping on hay while Kei and Rei were quite uncomfortable. Rei ended up sleeping beside Hibiki instead and Kei stayed in his pokeball for the night.

Aiden was preparing the sleeping bags for his traveling companions, when he noticed that there was a ruffling in the straw over to his left. Being slightly curious of what was going on he decided take a quick peek. There were multiple thoughts going through his head, but the main one was. *This is probably just my imagination, but it couldn't hurt to check*

He slowly peered over the straw and saw a pokemon that was well known throughout the world. It had short stubby legs and two large ears. It was covered in hazelnut brown fur with a sort of peachy coloured mane.

The tiny pokemon looked at him and shivered trying to hide itself further in the straw. Aiden smiled and simply saw how cute it was. He understood this tiny pokemon, and he knew what it feels like to be shy and worried about everything. He reached into his pocket pulling out a small berry and placing it on the straw.

The tiny pokemon poked its head out and dragged the berry right into its make shift burrow. Aiden smiled and reached out his hand. "Hey don't worry there little guy, I'm not gonna to hurt you."

The pokemon once again poked out its head into the light. This time Aiden got some good eye to eye contact with it. It slowly shuffled its way out and placed its soft cheek in the palm of Aiden's hand. Both of them were comforted by the warmth they had shared in that tiny moment.

"You're really small for an eevee." Aiden was shocked by how cold eevee was, he picked it up and held it in his arms gently rubbing the top of its head.

Eevee cooed in delight and snuggled deeper into Aiden's arms letting out soft breaths as it began to slowly calm down. Hibiki and Wendy soon caught on that Aiden was holding an eevee in his arms.

Hibiki walked up to him. "Wow he's so tiny! I can't believe a pokemon like an eevee would be back here. It might be Daniel's."

Wendy took a closer look at eevee. Upon closer inspection she saw the eevee had collar around its neck. The collar itself was made out of red silk. The silk shined in the dim light provided by the many lamps. Tied onto the collar was a tag that she recognized very well. "Aiden, this is a registration chip. It's used by breeders to keep track of the large litters they usually have. I would know both Pikachu and Riolu used to have them."

Everyone had spent the next few hours either falling asleep or getting ready for bed. Aiden on the other hand stayed up to pet, groom and feed the eevee. Despite eevee not being his pokemon he still felt like giving it a nickname.

"Hey Eevee, I'm going to sound like an old professor, but are you a boy or a girl?"

Eevee tiled its head and started barking out its name over and over again. Of course Aiden didn't understand a word it said so instead he pulled out his wallet showing the tiny pokemon a few pictures. One of the pictures was a young man who to Aiden was an older brother, the other picture was a young maiden whom happened to be his sister.

"Eevee this guy in the picture is my older brother Roy, and the girl is my younger sister Cheryl. So just point to the picture to show which gender you share with either one."

Eevee placed its paw Cheryl's picture. It looked up to Aiden and smiled. She soon found it nice to lean her body up against his hand, just feeling the warmth of his hand was more than enough to make her feel safe.

Aiden looked behind him to see that both Wendy and Hibiki were now completely asleep. As he was grooming Eevee his head turned towards the sound of a creaking shed door. It was simply Daniel holding a bowl of food. He was soaking wet from the rain, but it seemed like he didn't mind it one bit.

"Oh sorry did I wake ya?" Daniel said.

Aiden rubbed the back of his head, and in response eevee cried and whined that the comforting hand had stopped petting her. "Nah... not at all. I've actually been awake all night just taking care of this eevee here."

"Aw shucks well ain't that adorable. I brought her food as usual, I honestly didn't expect all of you guys to pick the shed with the last eevee I had. You two seem to have a special bond. I guess I should really introduce myself then." Daniel said.

Daniel sat down on some straw in front of Aiden. He placed the food off to the side which eevee completely ignored. "So I guess if it ain't obvious. I'm a pokemon breeder, I specialize in breeding normal type pokemon, and this eevee here happens to be the last one. In truth I was thinking about humanely putting her to sleep, tomorrow. She is the runt of her litter. Her legs are stubby and her coat isn't nearly as shiny as it needs to be, and unfortunately trainers don't want to buy a defective pokemon. Although after seeing her bond with you... I'd be willing to offer her for a fraction of what I'd sell her brothers and sisters."

Aiden looked Daniel in the eye. "Wait hold on! You plan on killing her off? Why she seems perfectly fine to me! Of course I'll buy her! Every pokemon deserves the chance to live!"

Daniel smiled. "She'll cost $590."

Aiden stood up. "I-I... I can't afford that!" Thoughts were racing through Aiden's mind on ways he could scrape up that amount of cash. In the end he knew there wasn't a single way that he alone could come up with that amount of money.

Daniel stood up stretching his arms. "Tell me this kid. Are ya one of dem pokemon trainers by any chance?"

Aiden regretfully nodded. He clenched onto Kei's pokeball and stared Daniel in the eye.

"Tell ya what, if you can impress me in a pokemon battle I'll give ya eevee for free. I'm also a trainer in uh... training myself. I do love the thrill of battle. What do you say if I win I keep eevee, and if you manage to impress me you get eevee free of charge, no strings attached."

Aiden clenched his fists. "Challenge accepted!"

* * *

Aiden stood on an open grass field as the thunder storm was brewing in its final phases. Puddles were scattered across the grass, and all around him he could hear the crashing sound of thunder. Before him was a tall and mighty ursaring, it had broad shoulders and some mighty fangs. Despite the rain its mere presence and stench reeked of death.

Aiden had already briefed Kei on the situation, and the tiny black bird flew in front of his trainer with great confidence, despite the gusts of wind coming from every direction. Aiden was nervous, and his breaths were short. Memories of his past were racing through his mind, and doubt began to set in his heart.

 _What if I lose, what if Kei gets injured. I can't live up to everyone's expectations. I can't live up to what Kei wants me to be. I'm a bad trainer I know it. Why did I even accept this challenge. This was a bad idea. I'm so so so screwed! I'm so screwed! I'm so..._

Out of nowhere Kei let out a powerful screech that echoed through the entire battlefield. He looked his trainer in the eye, as if he was saying _everything will be alright, I trust you so please trust me_

Aiden took in a deep breath. He was scared beyond belief, but there was a burning passion within his heart telling him to fight. Despite how scared he was, despite how nervous he felt, despite how weak he knew he was. This was a battle worth fighting.

Once Daniel had recognized that Aiden was ready he yelled out. "Alright kid you make the first move!"

Aiden nodded. Taking in one more breath he yelled "Kei, let's start this off with shadow ball!"

Kei spread his wings and shot up high up into the sky. He loved the feeling of the wind rushing past his wings, and when he reached the peak of his flight dark shadowy energy began to flow in and around his wings.

There was a loud whisking sound as Kei was flying towards Ursaring. Around his wings there were orbs of shadowy energy, and as Kei flew by he threw everything he had at Ursaring.

Ursaring simply stood there without worry and as anyone who would expect the attack simply phased right through Ursaring. The mighty pokemon laughed mockingly at Kei as Aiden quickly realized his mistake. Ursaring stood there waiting to see what Kei would do, but despite how silly he thought that shadow ball was, he still remained high on guard.

 _Shit! I got too caught up already I used a move that would be useless against a normal type._ Aiden collected himself. "Alright Kei, use aerial ace!"

Kei nodded and shot right back up into the air, this time with incredible speed. The water from the rain was whisked away by the force of his wings, as he came descending towards Ursaring.

"Humph useless attempt! Ursaring use fury swipes!" Daniel yelled.

As Kei came closer and closer Ursaring's body began to tense up. His claws were covered in a bright white light. When Kei had come in close for the strike he was instantly swatted away like a bug from Ursaring's attack. The claws had dug deep into Kei's torso as he was sent flying up into the sky. The attack stung with burning excruciating pain, but he looked back at Aiden who had been completely swept up in the fight.

"Kei, we're not giving up now! Use aerial ace again!" Aiden yelled.

Kei roared with passion diving towards Ursaring, but each time Kei dived in and tried to attack Ursaring would block each attempt. Each attack burned, each attack that Ursaring landed struck with the force of a freight train, each hit sounded like a gun shot being fired through the entire battlefield. Aiden told Kei that it wasn't time to give up, they needed to attack. Kei needed to attack, he wasn't a smart trainer, but he had a burning passion unlike anyone before.

"Kei, come on please keep on attack for me!" Aiden yelled.

Kei didn't stop charging in, not matter how many attacks Ursaring swatted him away with. No matter how much it hurt, and no matter how tired he was. Kei would not give up. His body was aching from the pain, but his heart was burning with the force of a volcano. He dived in once more, this time his wings glowed with an even bright light. Heat formed around Kei as the water surrounding him had soon began to evaporate.

Daniel and his partner were getting tired of this pointless endeavor. All these attacks and they knew Kei would soon give out it was only a matter of time.

"Ursaring let's finish this use hammer arm!" Daniel yelled.

As Kei closed in for the final hit Ursaring was reeling back his arm as it began to grow from the bulging muscles. It was only mere seconds but to Kei and Aiden the charge towards Ursaring felt like hours. They both knew that they were going to get hit by that hammer arm, but attacking was their only chance, the only chance that they could think of.

"Kei! Don't give up, no matter how many tries it takes! That's how we've always lived our lives!" Aiden yelled.

"Isn't it about time you give up Aiden! Ursaring use hammer arm with all your might!" Daniel yelled.

Ursaring screamed at the top of its lungs slamming Kei into the ground. The wind was knocked right out of Kei, and there was blood in his mouth. His entire body ached, but Aiden hadn't given up yet and neither would he. The two of them dug their feet into the ground and screamed at the top of their lungs.

"Kei there is a life on the line here! Daniel, I will save that life from you! I know you say that I should just give up, but I already know that! I've been hearing it all my life!" Aiden yelled.

Kei dug deep he pushed with its wings trying to escape the pressure of Ursaring. Ursaring laughed and pushed down on Kei even harder. Aiden clenched his fists and looked his opponent in the eye.

"I've lost all my life, and you telling me to give up is no different from everyone else! Right now... Right now... RIGHT NOW! IT'S NOT ABOUT GIVING UP OR LOSING. IT'S ABOUT ME TAKING YOU ON RIGHT HERE AND RIGHT NOW!" Aiden yelled.

A cry from the shed could be heard. Out in the rain was a soaked eevee her eyes were filled with wonder at who Aiden was she cried out at the top of her lungs. "Eevee! Eevee! Eevee!"

Aiden smiled he was still scared of this fight. He was scared that Kei was going to lose, but it didn't matter he was going to win no matter what it took. It was as if both he and Kei had the exact same wavelength with each other. As Aiden believed strong in his heart that they were going to win he could see that Kei was pushing with all of his might, giving it 110%. When the two of them thought that they had succeeded in lifting up Ursaring's arm.

Ursaring dug his feet deep into the ground, he felt the strength of this tiny little bird pushing up his arm. He lifted his arm and slammed it back down on Kei. The hit had cracked the ground leaving large gashes in the earth itself. Laying in a crater was Kei completely out cold, Aiden fell to his knees in disappointment. He slammed his fist into the ground and could only think about how he lost that fight.

Daniel stood there completely stunned by Aiden's heart in the heat of battle. He felt that this would be the right trainer for eevee. After all the searching, he finally found the match for her, and he knew that this would be the same Aiden that would help in the final battle.

(-0-)

 **Author Notes:** So tell me what you guys thought of the chapter! That's all I could really ask for, and just a special thanks to **Lamanti—Gato** and **Xander46** for both submitting awesome characters!

Anyway see you guys in the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

There stood a small house within the tree tops of Twin Needle Village. The walls were made out of rosewood which was tightly held together by thick dried up vines. The roof was simply made out of leaves, it was in the shape of a cone that was tied off at the top. Around the roof were rain catches, and due to a recent storm they were completely full.

Two individuals stood in the home, one of them wore a dark black suit and held a silver flask. The other had wore a simple purple dress in her hand was a glass filled to the brim with whiskey.

In a rough voice the man spoke out. "So today is the day huh..."

The young maiden coughed. "Don't worry my visions are never wrong."

* * *

Wendy was exhausted, walking from Daniel's house all the way to the next point in her journey was very tiring. Hibiki seemed to have an infinite amount of energy and so did her poochyena Rei, who had practically been running circles around them. Her bright smile never ceased and it did bring some hope to the group. Aiden on the other hand seemed to have a new found confidence in his step. He held a small eevee in his along with having Kei ride on his shoulder. He had already explained to Wendy and Hibiki that Daniel ended up giving eevee to him after he had managed to impress the guy in a pokemon battle. Aiden did end up naming her Yvei which she seemed to really enjoy, and Daniel ended up giving Aiden a water stone, fire stone and thunder stone just in case he ever wanted to evolve Yvei.

Eventually all of them had finally reached Twin Needle Village. The village itself was known for being a entirely up in the trees. That wasn't to say that at ground level that the village was beautiful. Along the ground of the massive trees that supported the village were many multi-coloured flowers that seemed to change depending how much light shone down on them.

They walked over to the hollow tree to where they would have to walk up some spiraling stairs to enter the village. At the base of the hollow tree it the width of it was simply too large to completely wrap your arms around a quarter of its total circumference. Walking inside they saw quite a sight. It was simply a large spiraling staircase with a beam of pure light at the very top with many vines dangling down. Looking further up they could even see a few trainers on their way down from the village. Ideally you would have a pokemon assist you on your way up, but for everyone, they didn't have that luxury.

* * *

 **Mid Way Up**

* * *

"So uh... how much money do we have? The village doesn't have a pokemon center, just a help board." Wendy said.

Hibiki put a bright smile on her face. "Don't worry I got this covered... I have... uh..." She quickly took a look in her wallet. "Let's not worry about the details. Aiden, you got much of anything?"

Aiden scratched the back of his head and sort of just smiled. "Unfortunately I'm kinda broke."

Wendy let out a huge sigh and crossed her arms. "Well I guess we'll have to get some cash. When we reach the village let's see if there's any trainers willing to battle with us. If there are we have to win, then maybe we can find a cheap inn to stay at."

* * *

 **End of The Hollow Tree**

* * *

Stepping out of the bright light before them stood Twin Needle Village. Just looking at the front of the village there were many huts that were supported by a single tree branch, and many were dug into the trees themselves. There was so much shade due to the tree leaves blocking out a good amount of sun, but some of the sun's rays did poke through the holes that the leaves failed to block. There was an oddly sweet aroma that did make its way through the wind, and Wendy knew that it must be the Divinity Fruit that was exclusive to the village.

Aiden pulled out a pamphlet on the village and started talking with Hibiki asking her a bunch of questions on what they should do. He turned to Wendy to see what their course of action would be, he just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page.

"Wendy, if you don't mind Hibiki and I are going to go look around the village for cheap places to stay at. We're also going to try and get some food." Aiden said.

Hibiki pointed to Aiden's pamphlet "Hoi! Aiden look! What the heck is Divinity Fruit!?"

Hibiki and Aiden looked at Wendy pointing to the diagram of the Divinity Fruit. "You were born in Yava, what is this fruit and where can we get it?"

Wendy kind of just laughed as she saw both of her friends completely cheek to cheek looking at her with big sparkly eyes. "It's a fruit that is exclusive to this village, and I know that this village sells a ton of foods using the fruit. I'm sure if you look around you can find someone willing to sell them. Anyway, I'm going to see if there are any trainers willing to battle me for some cash, let's all meet up at the help center by sunset ok."

Aiden placed his hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Alright, but please be careful."

Wendy laughed and shoved away Aiden's hand. "What are you? The brother I never had!"

Hibiki let off a bright smile. "Good luck battling!"

Aiden quickly butted in. "Seriously though Wendy, be safe... uh... also uhm... just let's all meet up at the help center by sunset ok."

Wendy smiled and pinched Aiden's nose. "Fine fine! Alright I'll see you guys later then!" She ran off freely towards the other end of village. She took in her surroundings, and the freeness of running across a long wobbly wooden bridge without fear. This actually wasn't her first time in Twin Needle Village, her uncle Steven took her here so many times when she was little.

She could think back on all the times she would pretend to be falling off of one of the bridges, and her uncle would scream for help, as she thought about it now, it was kinda stupid, but back then it was the funniest thing in the world. She thought back on all the times she'd be laying down on Justin's lap as they sung sweet little tunes, which usually happened to be the Captain Oshawott opening song.

She made her way to the battle area that was free for trainers to use. It hadn't changed much from her past, but it was definitely more beat up than she remembered. It was a large battlefield that was said to be dug out from a lighting strike that hit the biggest tree in the village. As a result of constant battles and hard work from the villagers now stood a mighty battlefield supported by the trunk of a tree, its branches and a few steel bars just in case.

She ran up to the battlefield taking in its scent. Then she noticed someone she had lost to before it was the same girl who completely wiped for the floor with her back in Berry Grove Town. Wendy was looking for cheap cash, but she wanted revenge for her previous attempt, she slowly walked up to her and tapped her shoulder.

"Naoki, I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" Wendy yelled.

Naoki turned around, her dark brown eyes met with Wendy. She had a confused look on her face as she scratched her head. "Uhm... do I know you?"

Wendy embarrassingly sighed and rubbed her eyes. *Of course she doesn't remember me, who in their right mind remembers the people they defeat in a random battle* "Look here we battled once at the iron rich river banks way back in Berry Grove. You beat me, but this time it'll be different! This time I'll be someone you can remember!"

"Alright sure! I have one condition can we make it a one on one! A bunch of my pokemon are still really badly beat up from gaining our fifth gym badge!" Naoki said.

 _Of course she has her fifth badge. She's already two gyms ahead of me._ Wendy took in a deep breath. "Alright I accept your one on one!"

* * *

 **10 Minutes Later**

* * *

Wendy stood there embarrassed, shocked and upset. In front of her was pikachu who was completely knocked out cold from a single attack. The lampent that destroyed her last time had done the exact same thing as before, and Wendy knew that there was a barrier in something that she needed to cross. Like last time Naoki gave Wendy a lemonade, and some advice to help her out, but everything was muffled due to her raging anger.

* * *

Aiden and Hibiki were walking through the village. They went to go see many of the historical shrines, a good amount of them were shrines for the local pokemon, but then there were a few that were placed within the holes of some of the trees. These were the special shrines that really only allowed offerings that usually included the use of Divinity Fruit.

The particular shrine that Aiden and Hibiki were appreciating was a shrine that Hibiki was slightly familiar to. It looked nearly identical to the celebi shrine tucked away in Ilex forest. Like every historically important monument, Aiden made a small offering of coins and bowed in respect.

When he had finished making his offering he noticed that Hibiki was taking a look at his pamphlet. He lightly tapped on her shoulder. "Is there anything you'd like to do?"

Hibiki smiled. "Yeah it says there's a small bookshop in this village. Can we go visit it?"

Aiden scratched the back of his head. "I don't see why not! Maybe I can find something interesting there."

The two of them were walking to the bookstore, it was a nice calming walk. In truth the two of them really enjoyed spending time with each other, for once it was nice not to have Wendy screaming at her team yelling at them to come along. It wasn't that they disliked Wendy, it was actually quite the opposite, as her screaming brought an energy to the group that everyone kind of enjoyed.

Aiden's hand gently grazed the skin of Hibiki's hand. He quickly pulled his hand away in embarrassment, and Hibiki slowly looked over. She could see a nervous sweat on Aiden's neck and the bright redness in his face. She found it incredibly cute.

Hibiki let out a soft giggle that made Aiden blush. "Ha ha ha! Don't worry about it Aiden, it was bound to happen. We're both walking so close to each other!"

Aiden fumbled with his fingers. "Uh... uhm... y-yeah I guess you're right!"

The two of them asked around to see if the locals knew where the bookstore was. Turns out that it would be too long of a walk to get there. The walk alone would take them right to just after sunset, so it was decided to stop and have a break. The two of them ended up finding a bench to sit down on and take in the simple sight of the village.

Hibiki had Rei sleeping on her lap, and Aiden had the newest member on his team on his lap. He felt that Yvei was cold, so he simply wrapped her up in his arms. Hibiki looked over at Aiden and admired his soft smile, it was something that he did that made her heart skip a beat.

"Hey Aiden, do you mind if I ask you something?"

Aiden looked at Hibiki. "Uh... sure,"

"What was it like growing up for you? I'm just curious, we've spent a good amount of time on this journey, I'd like to know you a bit better." Hibiki said.

Aiden leaned back on the bench and let out a loud sigh. "It's not really that exciting, but do you know anything about two individuals from the sinnoh region. They go by Rory and Chloe Jackson."

Hibiki smiled. "Who doesn't! The star crossed league tournament champs! Sure there have been awesome stories of many league tournament winners, but their's was just so passionate, just so heart warming, and so cool at the same time! Rory Jackson a battling prodigy a great trainer that won with overwhelming confidence, and a young girl named Chloe that was taken in as his pupil for them only to fall in love! Their story continues in their children, Roy Jackson a trainer that win with simply overwhelming power. Cheryl the master tactician and finally Robert Jackson the prince of all pokemon! I was a massive fan of them!"

Aiden scratched the back of his head. "Yeah they were quite popular among many people. Then you get me. Someone who can't even battle, someone who just loses all the time."

"Hey Aiden, don't talk down on yourself like that! Amateur trainers like us don't have to be as strong as them. You talk like you know them." Hibiki quickly said.

Aiden let out a soft chuckle. "Well Roy, Cheryl and Rob are my siblings." He took in a deep breath and in a sarcastic voice and said. "Wow so amazing!"

Hibiki sort of just stared at an Aiden before spitting out. "Yes! I can see the resemblance now!"

Aiden let out a loud sigh frowning just a bit. Hibiki picked up on why Aiden probably felt so disappointed in himself. She reached forward and without realizing grabbed him by the cheeks.

"Aiden, I know it might not be much comin from someone like me, but... I think you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Your life shouldn't matter where you come from or who your parents are, you are you, and I think you're just dandy!"

Hibiki could feel the warmth of Aiden's cheeks soon rise. He looked at her with tender eyes and said. "Thanks, you're a good friend, and I'm lucky to have you."

* * *

Aiden, Hibiki and Wendy had finished up what they wanted to do in the village, and as they each promised they met up at the help center. Much like every building in the village it was a simple wooden hut supported by a few tree branches. Walking in it was clear that the help center was built specifically for pokemon trainers on their journey. Down the middle there were local doctors and nurses taking care of pokemon, off to the right were buyable supplies for trainers, and to the left was a lounge with food you could order. Although most if not all the services came with a fee unlike a pokemon center which was usually completely free of cost.

The three of them all found a table to sit at in the lounge. Wendy could feel the awkward air between Aiden and Hibiki, and her curiosity soon took over.

"So what's going on between you two? You guys spent the whole day together and now you're acting like a couple that's just broken up."

Aiden blushed pressed his finger tips together. "I-it w-was nothing! We did nothing! Yup nothing at all!"

Hibiki face palmed in utter embarrassment. "I... well you see... I kinda... I kinda..."

Wendy smirked. "Hibiki, did you make Aiden's 'PP' go Doki Doki"

Both Aiden and Hibiki's faces were bright red as they slammed their hands on the table. In unison they screamed. "No! Nothing like that happened! Get your head out of the gutter!"

Wendy let out a soft giggle. "Relax guys, you know I'm just joking."

The sun had finally set on everyone's day. They had found a cheap inn to stay in for the night, but unfortunately it was the only night they'd be able to stay with the combined cash they had. Wendy had waited in her bed for both Aiden and Hibiki to fall asleep. She pulled out her phone and placed the device up to her ear to answer a call from someone very important to her.

"Wendy, are you up?"

"Uncle Steven, of course I'm up. I was the one who called you silly. Aren't you going to ask how my journey has been?"

"What am I your dad? So how has your journey been so far, well at least since the last time we've talked?"

"It's been going great, right now I'm traveling with two people, and it's been a ton of fun. Money is tight, but we're definitely managing."

"That's good, by any chance what town are you in right now?"

Wendy giggled. "I'm in Twin Needle Village. The same place you used to take me all the time when Grandma got sick of my crap!"

"Wait seriously! You're in Twin Needle right now!? Hold on are you staying at the Grapefruit inn by any chance?"

"Yeah why?"

"I'm in the lobby! Come down here and give your uncle a hug!"

Wendy quickly hung up the phone, and rushed to put on her clothes. She opened the door gently and instantly rushed down to the inn's lobby. To the outside it might seem weird that she would come running for her uncle, but truth is that Wendy saw her uncle more like the father she never had. She grew up never knowing her real parents, and was completely raised by her grandmother and her uncle.

Rushing out into the lobby there she saw the fatherly figure she loved with all her heart. Her uncle was about 5 feet and 11 inches or maybe he was just reaching 6 feet tall. His hair was long for a guy. It was sort of messy and jet black it went all over the place, and was spiked at the back and front, but in a free form kind of way. He had the same bright green eyes that she did, and quite a sturdy body. He wore an old tattered black suit and on his left hand was a silver watch.

She ran up to him and wrapped her arms tightly around him. "It's so good to see you Uncle!"

* * *

 **Author Notes:** So sorry that this was such a set up chapter for things to happen in chapter 10 truth is chapter 10 is practically finished as it was originally just part of chapter 9. However the reason I didn't keep the chapters as one big chapter was, because it was simply getting too big.

I wanted to split them up to keep with digestible chapter sizes.

Anyway let me know on your thoughts, this chapter was basically written for one of my betas. Just let me know if you enjoyed it and any special parts that you really liked, and that goes to all of you reading!

See you guys in the next chapter!

 **Extra Stuff** **May 15 2018:** SYOC submissions for all the elite 4 have been filled out. I am still accepting OC submissions, and you are more than free to submit more than 1 character.


	10. Chapter 10

It was the following morning of when the team had entered Twin Needle Village. All three of them stood in a medium sized hut within the village. The walls on the inside were much darker than they appeared on the outside, and looking up, the roof was very dry.

Standing in front of Hibiki and Aiden was Wendy, but beside her was a man the two of them didn't recognize. There was one thing that did poke out between the two of them. This man looked incredibly similar to Wendy. They had the same coloured eyes, their hair seemed to grow out the same way, their skin tone was almost identical, and their facial structure was practically the same.

Wendy excitedly pointed to her uncle. "Aiden, Hibiki, I'd like you guys to meet my Uncle Steven!"

Hibiki scratched the back of her head. "Mr. Uh Steven sir! If Wendy didn't state you were her uncle, I'd probably end up guess that you were her dad!"

Steven's face soon turned a bright red. He looked around the hut and let out a loud awkward chuckle. "Ha ha what! No no no pfffttt! That's preposterous! Me her dad! WE look nothing alike! Right Wendy!"

Wendy looked at her uncle and smiled. She stared at her friend with a big grin. "My Uncle Steven look nothing alike!"

In a rough voice Steven stood up straight, he placed both of his hands in his pockets and looked everyone in the eye. "So my niece over here says you guys are tight on money. Is that right or am I wrong?"

Aiden and Hibiki nodded in response, but they were both still puzzled at what point Steven was making. He leaned back cracking the bones in his spine, and at the same time popping both of his elbows. "So here's the deal, Wendy says you're both capable trainers. So I'm offering all three of you and two others a job to help me out with something. Ya see I'm what you would call someone who's very important to the security of Yava, and there's been some trouble with a few of the wild pokemon around the area."

"Basically all we need to do is help take care of some wild pokemon and we get paid enough money to last us for months!" Wendy excitedly said.

Everyone turned their heads towards the door creaking behind them. In the bright light of the door stood two girls. One of them looked like a child. She had long purple hair that reached down to her feet and soft rounded face. Looking at her face she had bright golden eyes that were blank almost as if she was staring off into space. Her height of 3'5" was the most apparent thing about her. The frilly black and purple dress she wore drooped down to her ankles. The other girl was short, she was shorter than Wendy, but just a bit taller than Hibiki. Her hair was white and short. Within her hair was a small black rose ornament that was neatly tucked off in the side. Aiden took quick notice at her soft round face, her bright rosy red cheeks, and the warmth in her dark teal eyes. Aiden had a hard time looking her in the eye mainly because of the revealing sweater she wore. The sweater was warm grey in colour, and it reached just past her waist and it ended up exposing her shoulders. Around her shiny shoulders were black straps which were probably from the bra she wore, and looking down at her exposed legs, she wore black stockings which reached up to her mid thigh.

Steven turned his head and put on a smirk. "Well look who showed up late. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to a few of the people on my team for this particular operation."

The girl with warm teal eyes slowly met hers with Aiden. "Hello... uhm my name is Mifuyu. I hope I can be useful!"

The other young lady swept her hair back. "Fucking christ Mifuyu. Stop being so damn shy. Look here Steven I'm here to guard the weaklings so don't fucking expect much! If your weaklings would like to know my name, it's Mina."

Steven gathered everyone around a table. Out in front of everyone was a map of Twin Needle Village at ground level. Taking one quick look at the map it was very clear that there were many pit falls into a maze of cave tunnels. At first it seemed scary but Steven explained that there were large metal fences around these pitfalls to prevent an accident.

Mina sighed. "So what our job is to protect a research group from the local durant in the tunnels?"

Steven smiled. "Essentially, but I'm sure that should be easy enough for you."

Aiden, Wendy and Hibki were going over their own plan to ensure safety of the operation. It was agreed that they would stay back to back no matter what. As they were all discussing on the things that they needed to do, someone butted in on their conversation. It was the white haired girl from before.

"Uhm... I-I... I'm not much of a trainer. So I was wondering if I could maybe join you guys in this whole thing. I don't really get along with Mina, Mr Steven is kind and all, but he also creeps me out."

Wendy looked her in the eye. "Oh sure!" She moved over letting her squeeze between her and Aiden. "So what kind of trainer are you?"

Mifuyu rubbed the tips of her fingers together. "I'm not really a trainer. I'm actually a pokemon performer I like to compete in contests. I'm not strong at all, but Mr Steven was looking for help so I made my mind to help out."

Wendy put on a bright smile. "Hey don't worry we'll all protect you and each other!"

Steven soon brought the attention to everyone in the room towards him. He took in a deep breath leaning back and making a loud cracking sound run all the way up his spine. "Alright so here's the deal, we'll all meet up at the bottom of Twin Needle Village. The research team will be there, they'll tell you the route, and that's pretty much it."

Mina soon after left the house leaving Aiden, Wendy, Hibiki and Mifuyu. As it turned out they all were poor and were completely unable to afford to stay at a cheap inn. Steven ended up letting them stay the night at his place. Steven had Mifuyu, Wendy and Hibiki all share a room, while Aiden got one all to himself. All four of them understood what Steven was doing, and in the end they didn't mind.

Aiden was setting up his things to stay the night at Steven's house. He was in the guest room, and it was the smallest room in the house. It was simply a bed and a night stand with a small lamp. It was good enough for a single night. As he was setting up his beddings the door behind him creaked open. Standing there in the door frame was Steven.

"Oh uhm... hello sir. Thank you for letting me stay at your place." Aiden said.

Steven put his hands in his pockets. "Kid, no need to be so formal? Just call me Steven. Anyway, there's something I need your help with, how confident are you at cookin?"

Aiden sort of winced shook his hand. "I'm kinda good at cooking."

Steven let out a soft chuckle. "Good enough, alright kid you're helping me cook our lunch for tomorrow."

Steven led Aiden into the kitchen where he saw a long assembly line of bread, tomatoes, berries, cheese, and an assortment of meats. Standing on the other end of the kitchen island was Mifuyu she wore a tight fitting apron as she cut up some of the tomatoes with great finesse. She looked up from her job and met Aiden eye to eye, she stopped in her tracks and looked down at her own body then quickly looked back at Aiden. She put her knife down and twirled her soft white hair around her finger.

Steven rubbed his eyes. "Mifuyu, how many times do I have to explain this to you. You look just fine, no one here is judging how you look. We're simply here to cook food for tomorrow. Aiden, can you stir the pot on the stove, just make sure the stew doesn't burn."

Aiden nodded and moved over to the pot. He opened it up, and took in the aroma. It was a strong savory beefy scent that wafted up his nostrils. Looking in the pot, it was a thick brown beef stew with thick cut potatoes that were fried before added to the pot. The carrots were probably steamed, and the peas looked as if they were as fresh as fresh could be. It was a perfectly cooked stew, and could come off the heat.

"Steven there's nothing wrong with the stew. It can come off the heat." Aiden happily said.

Upon hearing Aiden's words Mifuyu gave a soft smile which went completely unnoticed. Steven walked over to Aiden and opened up the pot. "Yup, that looks good to me."

Aiden went over across from Mifuyu to help cut some of the tomatoes. At first it was very awkward just cutting up vegetables across from someone, so Aiden decided to break the ice.

"So... you seem pretty comfortable in the kitchen. Do you like cooking?" Aiden asked.

Mifuyu let off a bright blush. "Do I? Do I really seem that comfortable? I like cooking, but I don't think I'm that good at it, like at all."

Aiden looked down at Mifuyu's hands and noticed that each cut to the tomato was perfect. It was thinly sliced without turning the tomato to mush. "You seem pretty good at it to me. I mean look at my tomatoes. They're all smushed!"

Mifuyu placed her hand over her mouth letting out a soft giggle. "I can see why Hibki and Wendy love traveling with you. The trick is you have to cut the tomato in half first, and let it sit down on the flat side so you're not pushing down on a ball. Also luckily these knives are sharp so you can just let it do the work."

The two of them ended up talking more about cooking. It was mostly Mifuyu giving Aiden pointers on how to improve cooking. They were both getting deeper and deeper in the conversation until Aiden felt something constantly bumping his leg. Looking down he saw Yvei.

Aiden crouched down knowing what his eevee wanted. He picked her up and held her in his arms. "Yvei, you're so spoiled you know that."

"Eevuee!" Yvei squealed.

Aiden rubbed Yvei on the head making the tiny pokemon's squeals echo throughout the kitchen. "Hey how about I introduce you to a new friend." He walked over to Mifuyu who had now to this point been staring at him.

"Mifuyu, this is Yvei, the newest member on my team."

"Can I pet her?" Mifuyu asked.

"Yeah sure." Aiden said.

Mifuyu walked up to Aiden, she reached out and felt the soft carefully groomed fur of Yvei. She smiled sending shivers up Aiden's spine. "She's really cute!"

Aiden chuckled. "Thanks! I try my best to take care of my pokemon."

Mifuyu smiled at Aiden. "I can tell."

* * *

 **Author Notes:** Guys I am really sorry that this chapter took so long! I thought that I'd be posting this chapter a day after chapter 9, but I had to go out of town, just out of the blue for a few days, and when I got back home I ended getting really sick that I couldn't leave my bed. So right now I'm still trying to recover, but can think straight enough to edit and write.

So I have to give credit where credit is due.

Mina Nianta created by " **Xander46** "

Xander you're such a jerk, but I love you for it you silly bastard. Anyway thanks again for sending in another OC what is you're up to 8 attempts now? I lost count, anyway I love Mina and don't worry she'll be getting more development as we go along, as we've planned she has... Actually let's not spoil it here. You better not spoil it in a review!

Mifuyu Azusa created by " **Lamanti—Gato** "

Mifu is pretty hard to write for, but hopefully I got her personality correct. Either way I think the character is perfect for the story and right now I won't give away her place in the cast of characters, I just really hope I can make everyone else enjoy her as much as I like her.

Lamanti btw it's totally your choice, but feel free to share the drawing you sent in to me for your character with everyone reading. You don't have to, but I think it would be really cool if you did.

Remember to give your thoughts on the new characters introduced, especially the ones that are not of my own creation, as some of the people reading did make the characters themselves. Anyway I'll see you guys in the next chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

**Author Notes:** Hey guys Firefoxdriver here. I just wanted to let you guys know that the upcoming chapter is going to take a while. With things going on in my life and school getting kinda hectic it's really going to slow down the next chapter.

Also the next chapter has a battle type that I've never written before so that's also what's slowing it down. I'm really sorry that this is probably not the update that you were looking for, but I'm really trying to get chapter 11 finished, or I guess it'd be chapter 12 by the time I post it.

Really sorry for the inconvenience guys!


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